All Fall Down
by ArmedWithMyComputer
Summary: Carlos is lost within a sea of siblings, only feeling appreciated by his friends. Just a look into the life of Carlos Garcia, seeing how he hides his pain. But one day, it all gets too much, and everything crumbles around the friends. Carlos angst!
1. Chapter 1

**Hey... First off, thanks to everyone who clicked on this story :) This is my first Big Time Rush fanfic, so hopefully it's okay. I know Carlos is probably really OOC, but I really wanted some Carlos angst!**

**Hope you like it!**

Carlos trudged home in the melting snow, the backpack heavy on his shoulders and the pieces of skateboard in his hands. He dumped the ruined skateboard in the trash before he got home, a shred of sadness going through him as he closed the lid of the bin. He had loved that skateboard. The door to his house was unlocked so he walked right in, not stopping to greet his family in the living room and kitchen, heading straight for his room. The new bruises that were splattered across his back protested loudly as he climbed up the last few stairs, but Carlos gritted his teeth and carried on until he was finally in his room with the door closed.

Glancing in the mirror, he knew the skateboard stunt had been stupid, and he had paid for it with a multitude of bruises and scrapes that were littered across his back. Changing out of his school shirt and into a comfy t-shirt, he grimaced at the white hot pain that rippled through his back and torso. He might have bruised some ribs as well.

But none of his injuries mattered to him. Sure, he wished he hadn't fell down the park steps and rolled a few feet from the impact with the ground, unable to move for a few terrifying seconds, while his skateboard clattered to the ground, snapped in half from the impact, but the looks on his friends faces before he had fallen had been worth it. They had been laughing at his antics and jokes, having fun and Carlos had been laughing with them. Then he had rolled too far, and tumbled down hard concrete steps. Thank God he had been wearing his trusty helmet.

Kendall, Logan, and James had sprinted over to him, with worry in their eyes. He had been bombarded with questions about his name, age and family to determine if he had a concussion or not, and he had been checked for broken bones. Carlos had pushed them jokingly away, insisting he was fine, that he was just a bit bruised, and his friends had finally stopped nagging, but had watched him carefully for the duration of their time in the park.

It was always the same. Each time he walked through the door of his home with a new bruise or cast, his parents shook their heads and averted their eyes. Carlos wasn't smart like his little sister and brother, the twins; he wasn't a musical genius like his older brother; he wasn't a modern day "Doctor Doolittle" like his older sister who was known by everyone for her love of animals and the good deeds she did for the animal kingdom on a daily basis.

He wasn't book smart, he had no idea how to hold an instrument of any kind, and animals only just tolerated him. All these combined, made him a failure in his family's eyes. He had nothing special going for him.

All he had was his love for hockey, and a curse that seemed to get into trouble that normally ended with a trip to the ER. That, and his friends.

Carlos knew his family thought he was stupid and useless. Hell, he thought _he_ was stupid and useless. His friends seemed to be the only ones who thought differently, and they had defended him against bullies and helped him from becoming _too_ injured over the years.

He gasped aloud in pain as he sat down on the bed, his ribs feeling as if they were on fire, and agony spiking through his back. He stayed like that for a few minutes, before hauling himself painfully up and beginning the long journey to the kitchen. His mother looked up to see her middle son limp into the room she was in a few minutes later, a look of barely suppressed pain on his face.

'What did you do this time, Carlos?' She asked, exasperated. Of all her children, Carlos seemed to hurt himself the most, and get into the most trouble. He broke things constantly, never seemed to be at home, and had bad grades. She and his father were at their wits end. _If only he could be more like his siblings..._

'Huh? Oh, nothing, Mama. I just... need some pain pills,' Carlos winced slightly as he reached up to grab the box of pills, and downed two without even a glass of water. His eyes looked up to see his mother staring at him, a tired look in her eyes that he knew all too well, 'I, uh, fell when I was on my skateboard. I'll be fine tomorrow.' _But my skateboard won't..._

With that, he shuffled out of the room, only stopping to grab an apple from the fruit basket. Just as his mother was about to call after him and make sure he really was okay, her two youngest ran into the house, screaming with joy, 'Look, Mama! We both got A's on our math test!' Ms. Garcia was so caught up in praising the twins, that all thoughts of her other son gone from her mind.

As Carlos lay in pain on his bed, he thought about just running away, just leaving this damn place forever. Sure, he loved his family, but it sometimes felt like they didn't love him back. His father was hardly ever home, work taking up most of his time. His mother tried, but she just didn't understand him, and she was under enough pressure with his other brothers and sisters. His siblings were awesome, and he loved them loads, but he was really just bringing them down. They didn't need his stupidity messing up their brilliance.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of his phone buzzing in his pocket. Squinting at the caller ID, he saw that it was Kendall, and he smiled.

'Hello? Kendall?'

'_Hey Carlos. Are you sure you're okay after today? You fell down those steps pretty hard...'_

'I'm fine, don't worry about me. What's up?' Carlos lied smoothly, trying to keep the pain he was in from showing in his voice.

'_Good, I'm glad you're okay! You wanna come to the cinema with me, Logan, and maybe James tomorrow 'cause its Saturday? But we totally understand if you're hurt and wanna just stay at home, though.' _Kendall's voice sounded doubtful that Carlos was really fine.

His back seemed to ache even more at the thought of trekking across town to get to the cinema, but Carlos ignored the pain, 'Sure, that sounds great! I'm totally in!'

'_Well, only if you're sure you're okay...? Let's meet there at one. Got to go, talk to you tomorrow!' _

'Bye.'

Carlos hung up the phone and groaned silently. He didn't move for a minute, eyes scrunched up in pain. He forced himself to take deep breaths, and then plastered a huge, but fake, smile on his face. He could do this. If his friends wanted him to be the happy-go-lucky one, that's what he could be. _Would_ be. He was determined not to let his friends know that he was hurt. A couple of bruised ribs and a badly scraped and bruised back was nothing.

He would be an awesome friend, and hope that at least his three friends actually liked him.

At least _they_ wanted him around. For now, anyway.

**How was that...? Was it really bad, or okay? Sorry for any mistakes, I don't have a beta. It can be expanded into a story, if people like it...**

**Please review, and let me know what you thought! Thanks so much for reading :)**

**ArmedWithMyComputer **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone! Here's the next chapter... I hope it's okay!**

The bus was cold and packed with people as Carlos Garcia paid his money and squeezed into the throng of people. His ribs were killing him as they were jostled, and his back was almost numb with pain. The key word was 'almost', he could still feel every agonizing spasm of pain. He was forced to stand, cheek pressed against the cold window and arms pinned at his sides, as there were no seats available.

He felt every pothole and bump the bus hit, almost crying out when a little kid was shoved into his tender side. Carlos kept his composure though, and helped to steady the small boy with a big smile on his face, "Watch out there, buddy."

It was only a twenty minute bus ride to the cinema the boys had arranged to meet at, but it felt more like an hour to Carlos as he suffered in silence. When his stop finally came, he stumbled onto the street, pulling his jacket around him in an attempt to disguise the way his arms were wrapped around his torso in pain. The cinema was only a few minutes walk away, and he was already late, so Carlos set out in an awkward kind of loping run.

Kendall, James, and Logan were hanging around in the lobby when he burst into the cinema at last, red face and all. "Dude, you're late!" James called out, as Kendall slapped him on the back in a friendly way. Carlos held in his moan of pain as his friend aggravated the multitude of bruises, instead stumbling slightly to hide his wince, grinning sheepishly.

"I, uh, slept in...?" The excuse was weak, and he was hoping his friends would just let it go. The truth was that he had fallen down the stairs in his rush to get out the door, and had lay looked at the ceiling for an hour while stars danced around his head and pain made him unable to move. Luckily no one had been in the house, out doing other things (Russian language class for the twins, violin lesson for his brother, and fundraising for orphaned pandas for his sister), so Carlos had been left to haul his battered body off the floor alone and limp to the bus stop.

"It's two in the afternoon, man, and even you don't sleep that late," Logan said, concerned, "You sure you're really okay after yesterday?"

_No! I'm really not!_ His mind screamed out, while Carlos shrugged off his friend's concerns, and marched purposely to the ticket booth, "I'm fine, honestly. Uh, what movie were we seeing again?"

After purchasing their tickets, they'd had to pick another movie since Carlos had made them so late for their original choice; the boys headed for the sweets counter and bought a number of sugary things that were guaranteed to be bad for their health... But, as Carlos put it, "They're just _so good_!"

The movie theatre was strangely empty, giving the teens the luxury of picking which seats to sit in; James and Carlos running around the whole room twice, weaving in and out of the empty seats (Carlos eventually running into the screen after he had decided to close his eyes and see what happened. _Ouch..._). They settled on sitting right in the middle, cracked out their sweets and popcorn, and started to watch the action filled, classic teenage boy movie.

Carlos shifted uncomfortably in his seat for the tenth time, the bruises that decorated his spine and across his back made it painful to sit still in the cinema seats for long periods of time. He groaned softly as a particularly sharp pain spiked up his back. _This is hell_. James, who he was sitting next to, nudged him in the middle of shovelling another handful of gummy bears into his mouth, and hissed, "What's wrong with you, Carlitos? You need to pee or something?"

Carlos quickly nodded, thankful for the convenient excuse, and stood up wearily, "I'll be right back." Thinking no one could see him in the dark theatre, he dropped his act of walking normally as he headed for the exit, and shifted to full on limping that took away some of the pain. What he didn't know was that at the exact moment a giant explosion happened onscreen and lit the cinema up with bright orange light, Logan turned to see where his friend had gone, and saw the full extent of Carlos' limping.

Logan stared at Carlos' back, cursing the darkness as the scene changed in the movie and the theatre was once again plunged into darkness. _What was up with Carlos?_ He quickly muttered an excuse to Kendall and James, before running out in the direction Carlos had just staggered in.

Carlos leaned over the cheap sink in the bathrooms, splashing water on his face in an attempt to wipe the pained expression off his features. Glancing up in the mirror to see if he had succeeded, he caught sight of a pale Logan standing behind him at the door, "Aaagh! What the—Oh, Logan, you gave me a fright... What's up?"

Logan continued to stare as he watched Carlos immediately shift his expression of agony into a wide grin and smooth features. He didn't buy it. "Dude, are you hurt? Or sick or something?" Carlos shook his head slowly. _Crap! He's noticed... What do I do?_ "Are you sure?" Logan's tone was doubtful.

"I... um... Quick, we're missing the movie!" Carlos opted to change the subject quickly, and rushed out the door, grabbing Logan's arm. He ran back into the movie theatre, dragging Logan all the way, before Logan could process his hasty subject change. Carlos skidded to a hasty halt as the darkness engulfed them and some mean little children _shush_ed them loudly. "Sorry, everyone!"

They sat down quickly to avoid interrupting the movie even more, but Carlos could feel Logan's concerned looks that he kept shooting his way throughout the duration of the movie. He slid down in his seat, feeling a sick feeling settling in his stomach, and he wrapped his strong arms around his throbbing ribs.

Logan was thinking hard for the remainder of the movie. Carlos was acting weird, and trying to cover something up. Carlos had never been good at keeping secrets, so he would probably crack soon. _But what if he doesn't?_ Logan shot another worried glance at his friend_. I've got to figure out what's up with him._

Meanwhile, Carlos' mind was racing with anxious thoughts and worries. _Please don't let Logan find out, _he prayed in the darkness,_ just... please. _

**I hope people liked that! Thanks so much to the following for reviewing: **BelieverInLove, CheekyBrunette, BTRCarlosFan333, Nobody Else Just Me, **and** I C a big world. **Your reviews made me really happy!**

**It's actually my birthday tomorrow (!), so I'm posting this tonight because I might not have a chance to tomorrow... Gimme an awesome birthday present by reviewing...? Let me know what you think, what you want to see happen in this story, and how I can improve!**

**Thanks for reading!**

**ArmedWithMyComputer x**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone! Sorry this chapter is a week late... Hope people like it!**

His reflection started sadly back him, the real damage to his torso visible. The once purple bruises that littered the area around his ribs, and twisted up his spine, were morphing into a yellow-ish colour, still painful to touch. Carlos turned slightly, clad only in his favourite basketball shorts to try and see his back more clearly, but just ended up hissing in suppressed pain.

"Carlos!" His older brother, Michael, called up the stairs, "Logan is here to bring you to the game!" Carlos didn't reply straight away, just wincing in tiredness and pain. "Dude, I'm coming up to get you if you're not downstairs in two seconds... You're already really late for the game!"

"Uh... I'm coming!" Ignoring his body's protests, the teenager quickly dressed in loose sweatpants and a t-shirt, pulling a hoodie over his head as he started running towards the stairs. Because his vision was obscured by the soft material, Carlos didn't see the pile of laundry his brother had forgotten to clear away, and tripped. "Aaagh!"

From the bottom of the stairs, Logan and Michael watched with a horrified fascination at first as Carlos came tumbling down the stairs, caught in a tangle of clothes. He landed on the floor hard, most of his weight on his left wrist, smacked his head off the wall, and rolled to a halt beside Logan's feet. There was deathly quiet at they could only stare at the motionless boy.

Carlos moaned in pain, breaking the horrified silence.

"Carlos!" Michael yelled for the second time that afternoon, looking around in fear, while Logan slowly rolled his friend over carefully. Carlos blinked sluggishly a few times as he came to, before he tried to sit up.

Logan pushed him back down, despite his protests, and turned to the other Garcia present in the room. "Hey, is anyone home?" Michael shook his head, still in shock. "_Great, _that's just perfect," Sarcasm was evident in his voice, "Quick, call an ambulance and get me some ice for his head. I think he's got a pretty good concussion, maybe a broken wrist, but there could be other stuff... Stay still, Carlos!"

"Guh..." The sound that came from Carlos' mouth was full of pain, but he stubbornly pushed Logan off him, and dragged his bruised body into a sitting position. "M'fine, L-Logan, we gotta get to the game. Late already."

"Dude, we're not going anywhere but the hospital. Now, we can get an ambulance, or get in the car, c'mon," Michael stuck his head out of the kitchen, and threw an ice-pack at the two friends. "I got the keys to the car, so if you can walk, let's go. The hospital's where we're headed." He took three long strides before he reached his brother, crouching down in concern beside him and Logan. "Is he okay to walk, do you think, Loan? At least to the car?"

"I don't kn—" Logan started, but he was quickly cut off by Carlos.

"I'm fine," Paying no heed to his friend and brother, Carlos heaved himself into a standing position, only leaning slightly against the wall, and scowled at the other two. "_Guys_, it's the semi-final of the championship cup. We can't miss this game. There's no point in wasting money on another ER visit this month, Michael, and you know it. Please let me go to the game..."

Carlos' puppy dog eyes were on full blast as he tried to make it seem like he was fine. Logan, still doubtful of his friend's health in general, was frowning slightly. Blinking away the stars that suddenly appeared in his vision, Carlos looked up to see unsure expressions on Michael and Logan's faces. _Yes_.

"I'm still not sure..." Logan said hesitantly; concern evident in his voice and expression as he looked Carlos up and down. "What do you think, Michael?"

"Umm... I guess we could go to the game. But there's no way in hell you're playing, Carlos, and I'm coming with you guys to make sure you're really okay. If anything looks even remotely not-okay, we're going to the hospital. Got it?" The Latino teenager stared in shock at his brother, Michael had never come to one of his hockey games, _and _he was blowing off a date to come. _Wow._

After being helped out to the car, they were finally on their way to the game, every bump sending jolts of pain through Carlos' body. After ten long minutes of both his brother and his best friend staring at Carlos like he was about to explode or something, the car pulled up outside the hockey rink. "Are you sure you're okay, dude?"

"I. Am. Fine. Michael, for the last time!" Carlos groaned at his brother, opening the car door and pulling himself to his feet, slyly using the handle to support his injured body. Logan hurried over from his side of the car and tried to help Carlos limp inside. But Carlos wasn't having any of it. He shoved Logan off him, and made his own way into the ice-rink, favouring his left side and holding his wrist into his chest.

The game was just at half time by the time the three boys got inside, Logan and Carlos hurrying down to where the coach was pacing angrily with the rest of the team. Michael took a seat close to the rink, keeping an eye on his younger brother as he watched him limp painfully behind Logan. _That kid had better be okay..._

The whole team glared accusingly as Logan and Carlos made their appearance. "Where were you guys?" Kendall yelled furiously, pointing to the score-board, "We're losing now, because you guys couldn't be bothered to show up to the damn game on time... _What the hell_?"

"Sorry, man, but Carlos fell down the stairs and got hurt again, so we were a little delayed. I'm good to play now, but Carlitos is sitting this one out. We good?" Concern flashed onto Kendall's face, and James stood up, worried. Carlos scowled.

"No, I'm good guys, I can play! I'm really fine!"

"NO!" Kendall, Logan, and James shouted at the same time. "Dude, its fine, we can do this one without you, man. Connor can play in your position, at least for this game..." James said quietly.

But Carlos was already pulling his gear on, wincing slightly, a stubborn look on his face. "I can play. I'm fine. Coach?"

The middle aged, balding man was looking overwhelmed at the interaction of the best friends, much like the rest of the team, "I guess if Carlos thinks he can play... But only if he's sure..." Carlos punched the air in triumph, agony crippling his arm, but he carried on regardless.

"Let's go guys."

The game started once again in the second half, all the players skating out onto the ice. Michael scanned the players to see if any were his idiot little brother, but he honestly had no idea which one was which. He should have paid more attention when Carlos was babbling on about stupid hockey. Carlos, on the other hand, felt alive as he rushed onto the ice, his pain receptors shutting off as he almost burst with excitement. _Stupid Michael and Logan_. They didn't know anything. He was fine.

Within the first thirty seconds, Carlos went to cover James before he got checked by a huge player on the opposite team, and ended up being smashed badly against the boards himself. His vision flashed white with hot pain as he heard a bloodcurdling yell of pain escape from his lips. This was _not_ going to end well.

The entire stadium watched, horrified, as Carlos Garcia, number 9, went down hard... And didn't get back up again.

"_Carlos!"_

**How was it? I'm sorry if it seems a little rushed, and the characters are slightly OOC... My internet is about to shut off in, like, maybe ten minutes, but I really wanted to get this up tonight.**

**I'll post the next chapter sometime this week if I get a good response... So review, and keep an eye out!**

**ArmedWithMyComputer xx**


	4. Chapter 4

**Here's chapter four... Enjoy!**

The ice rink was silent, the spectators staring on in horror as Logan, James and Kendall fell down beside their friend. Carlos had been slammed into the side of the rink hard, and he hadn't moved. Something was seriously wrong. Carlos' helmet blocked most of his face from view, but it was clear that he wasn't conscious. "We need some help over here! NOW!" James yelled as he glanced around desperately at the shocked faces.

"_Carlos_!" Michael was shoving people aside as he sprinted down to the ice. Paramedics were grabbing bags of equipment and racing onto the ice, the other players forming a loose, worried circle around their fallen teammate and his best friends. The older brother of the teenager sent the coach flying with a well placed shove, dark eyes scrunched with worry and guilt, strong arms wind-milling as he slipped on the ice, determination keeping him on his feet and running towards his kid brother.

Logan was guilty. The teen was hyperventilating as he watched the medics ease off Carlos' helmet and place a neck brace on. It was all his fault. He was the only one who had really known how hurt Carlos was, and yet he had still given into his friend's pleading, and not stopped him from playing. He could see Michael from out of the corner of his eyes, and he dropped his head in guilt and shame, praying that Carlos would be okay. He just had to be.

James was nervous. He was trying to look everywhere but his broken and injured friend. Hazel eyes concentrated on the solid ice, blinking back tears that threatened to come, twitching slightly as he tried not to see the paramedic check if Carlos was breathing, and then place an ambu-bag over his mouth. He felt physically sick with worry as the man began to squeeze the bag every few moments._ Breathing_ for Carlos.

Kendall was angry. He was down-right _pissed off_ with everything. As they started to place the small Latino on a backboard and got ready to move him, Kendall stood up from where he had been slumped on the ice beside his friends, and caught sight of the player on the opposite team, the one who had checked Carlos. Something in him snapped, as he started towards the other boy, punching him straight in the face when he got close enough. Kendall continued to beat the crap out of the other teenager, landing blow after blow filled with fury.

After only a few punches, Kendall felt himself being pulled roughly off the kid, and he swung around with fire in his eyes, fully intent on beating the crap out of the interfering person. His clenched fist was stopped in its path towards the stranger's face by a strong tanned hand, and his eyes looked up to meet Michael's hooded ones. "You want a ride to the hospital, or are you going to stay here and fuck around some more? We're leaving now."

The reality of the situation suddenly sank in, and Kendall swayed on his feet, anger replaced by scared concern, eyes blurred by tears desperately seeking Carlos. He found his target being carried away by the paramedics, someone holding the door open for the fast moving medics with one hand over their mouth in shock._ No_. Grabbing hold of Michael's arm, he skated as fast as he could towards the edge of the ice, Carlos' brother letting Kendall drag him across the slippery surface. Logan and James were waiting for them, and they all ran into the parking lot together, ice skates being yanked off in a hurry, none of the three best friends bothering to get shoes or a jumper.

"Only one," The paramedic repeated as he stared at the three teenagers, "We can only fit one in the ambulance. The rest will have to go in the car." Three pairs of angst-ridden eyes glanced at each other silently, no words needed, before they came to a decision.

"Kendall, you go. Me and Logan will go with Michael."

The car ride to the hospital was a blur for James. Michael broke the speed limit the whole way, weaving in and out of the lanes of heavy traffic behind the ambulance. Logan was shaking in the seat beside him, eyes wide and wild-looking. Michael was silent and stoic, the occasional curse slipping out of his tight lips when they nearly crashed with cars that didn't sense the urgency of their trip. The horn of the tense car blared loudly on a few occasions.

James' eyes were trained on the back of the ambulance the whole time, wishing he could see inside. He hadn't been able to look at his friend's damaged and injured body at the ice rink, but now he was regretting it, cursing his stupidity for not concentration on the faint rise and fall of Carlos' chest. He couldn't even remember if he had been breathing when they'd left. But he had to have been. It was Carlos. He was always alright. _But what if he isn't?_

As they sped through a particularly busy junction, causing James to fall against the window as Michael did some spinning thing with the wheel that saved them from being smushed by a truck, James let out a choked sob. _What if Carlos wasn't okay?_ All the paramedics had said was that they needed to get Carlos to hospital as soon as possible, but that it was not looking good, and that time was of the essence. He remembered that they had needed to use an ambu-bag to breathe for him, that they had needed to strap him down and place a neck brace on him, that they had looked at James and his friends with pity.

At the sound of the car door slamming, James broke out of his trance to see they had arrived at the hospital. Michael was already running frantically inside, the keys still in the car, people dodging to get out of the way of the sprinting eighteen year old. "Logan? C'mon, let's go!" The dark haired teenager was frozen, his hands clenched into tight fists.

"All my fault..." He murmured, not acknowledging James as he mentally tortured himself, "All my fault."

James ended up practically dragging him into the hospital, staggering under the weight of the smaller teen, as Logan stumbled along beside him, relying on his friend to keep him upright. They were directed to the ER waiting room, where they found a pacing Michael, and an angry Kendall.

Without saying a word, James collapsed in a chair beside his best friends. He knew the drill, having been here before with Carlos for a broken bone or concussion... but nothing ever this serious. Now, the waiting game began.

After almost two hours, a tired looking doctor came out, his expression sad and pitiful as he located the four worried teenagers in the corner. "Family of Carlos Garcia..?"

**Hey guys! Sorry about the cliff-hanger there... My bad! Lol, I hope this chapter was okay :) Thanks so much to the people who favourite-d either me or my story, and who put it on their alerts! **

**Big, huge, super thanks to all the reviewers for chapter three! You guys are the best :D I always get really happy whenever I see a review in my inbox, and I'm so grateful for all the comments!**

**I hope people liked this chapter now, and please let me know what you thought by leaving a review :) If anyone has any suggestions or things they maybe want to see later on in the story, don't be afraid to tell me and I'll try to incorporate them! For example, what kind of injuries do you guys want Carlos to have?**

**The next chapter should be up maybe next weekend, so check it out then!**

**ArmedWithMyComputer x  
**


	5. Chapter 5

Logan hated waiting rooms. The clocks always ticked too loudly, the muffled sobs from the other people waiting never stopped, the squeaking of fast moving gurneys in the corridors... and he knew it was all his fault. Michael had been pacing furiously non-stop, in between calling his parents and cursing, while Logan felt the sick feeling in his stomach grow stronger and stronger until he felt like he was going to puke. What had he done?

Mr. Garcia was away at a friend's wedding, and had turned his phone off during the service, so Michael hadn't been able to reach him. Their mother was "_in a very important meeting, and wasn't able to come to the phone right now_..." as the stupid receptionist had put it. This had only made Michael madder, and he had proceeded to beg, plead and threaten the woman until she finally gave in, and connected his call.

The rush conversation Mrs. Garcia had with her eldest son had been hurried and blunt. "_He will be fine until I can get there, Michael. You know that I can't leave after last month when I had to rush to the hospital after Carlos got another concussion and sprained ankle. I'll be there as fast as I can. Be strong, he'll be fine._"

The three best friends had watched in muted shock as Carlos' brother had tried to persuade his mom that it was something different this time, that he_ couldn't_ do this, but then he had abruptly stopped, staring at the phone in disgust. "I ran out of credit. Un-_fucking_-believable." He had lapsed into silence, shaking his head at the offer of James' mobile to call again.

That was about when the doctor had showed up, taking Michael to a private conference room. They had all jumped up to follow them, but Logan, James and Kendall had been told that they had to stay put. Family members only.

They had been alone for half an hour now. Logan knew he was shaking, knew Kendall and James were eying him worriedly, but he couldn't get the image of Carlos crashing into the side of the hockey-rink, and falling. Just lying there, completely still.

James fiddled with his hands, twisting them into knots, doing anything to get his mind off the horrible situation at hand. While Logan might have at least some knowledge as to what the _heck_ was going on here due to all the medical stuff he knew, James was lost. Sure, they had all been in their fair share of hospitals (Carlos had the unbeatable record for the amount of broken bones, stitches, and concussions, miles ahead of any of his other friends), but it had never been like this before. This was... indescribable. This was Hell.

If you asked James what he wanted more than anything else right then, the answer would be for Carlos to be okay. It wouldn't be fame, or money, or even for everlasting happiness, or any of those stupid things. He just wanted his friend. Bowing his head of perfect hair, James began to count random numbers in his tortured mind. Anything to make the pain go away, and make the flashing images of an unmoving Carlos out of his head.

Just as Kendall was about to snap with worry and frustration, ready to march up to the nurses' station and _demand_ some answers (Because _damnit_, he was sick of this panicked waiting), Michael appeared in the doorway, looking like he was about to pass out. "The doctor wants to talk to you guys... see if you can fill us in on something."

Exchanging scared looks, the teenagers followed him, stumbling along like lost puppies, afraid to ask for information now that they had seen Michael's tortured expression, afraid to know the full extent of the damage done to Carlos. The conference room was cold and empty, bar the doctor sitting at the long table, reading a chart intently. Kendall cringed away from the others. He really didn't want to know what the chart said.

Seeing the three friends, the doctor quickly flipped the chart closed and stood up to shake their hands. "I'm Doctor Byrne," The cheery smile made Kendall want to punch the guy in the face. In fact, he wanted to punch everyone in the room... anything that might help him feel numb. Michael introduced Logan, Kendall and James, before sinking down into a chair and putting his head in his hands. He suddenly looked a lot older than his eighteen years.

"So, what can you boys tell me about Carlos these last few weeks? Notice anything unusual?"

There was silence as the teenagers started at the man, confused as hell, and worried about their friend. "Excuse me? What the heck are you talking about? Where's Carlos?" Kendal snapped and yelled at the doctor. "Is he even _alive_, for God's sake?"

"Carlos is alive, yes, Kendall. But that's not the answer to the question..." The doctor's gaze moved to James, "Did any of you notice any recent injuries on Carlos, well, before today?" James didn't give any indication that he had heard anything since the doctor had come into the room, not able to move for shock.

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"Well...Logan, is it? Carlos has presented with a number of other injuries that seem to be only a few days old, maybe a week at most. It's important that you tell me anything you know about these so we can help him. Does any of this ring a bell for you boys?"

Kendall had been stopped in his angry-about-to-rant-on-about-anything-and-everything mode, and was staring in confusion at the others. James still hadn't moved. Michael was looking like someone had sucker-punched him in the stomach, and like he was about to throw up. But Logan had gotten even paler, if that was even possible, and he was starting to hyperventilate again.

"The park... skateboard... fell down steps... bathroom in the movies... stairs... Oh God..."

"Logan? You're not making any sense." The doctor gently probed for more information, knowing Logan was very distressed about something.

A few deep breaths late, Logan was ready to speak, the others half terrified of what he was going to say, "Well, remember when Carlos fell down those steps at the park, that total wipe-out on his skateboard? And then at the cinema, in the bathroom, he looked like he was really in pain and he wouldn't tell me what was wrong... And then he fell down the stairs again this morning... I swear I didn't know he was that hurt. Oh, God, and I let him play the game." _Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid._

"But that's Carlos!" Kendall blurted out, "He's always falling and stuff... But he gets right back up, and never says that he's—Oh, _crap._" Realisation dawned on Kendall, the teenager figuring out that Carlos had been hiding injuries.

"Well... we'll have to wait until Carlos wakes up to get the full story."

James, who had been standing there quietly all this time, spoke up suddenly, "But what's wrong with him? Will he be okay? Someone tell me s_omething_!" At this, the teenagers turned to Michael who just looked away sadly, making them all turn to the doctor.

"I'm not sure that I can disclose that information to non-family members at this time..."

"Just tell them, for fuck's sake!" Michael's voice was choked and strained, as he rolled his eyes at the doctor. "I give my permission, or whatever."

"Uh, well, boys... Carlos has five broken ribs, one of which punctured a lung which is being repaired in surgery now. He also has a fractured wrist, probably from the fall down the stairs, and a badly broken ankle, from the hockey incident. There is also a very severe concussion involved, which we have to monitor very carefully, as well as internal bleeding in his abdomen, which is also serious at the moment. Not all the tests results have come back yet, so that's all I can tell you for now. Do you have any questions?"

Logan, Kendall and James simply looked at the man in his stupid whitecoat, with no pity or sympathy in his eyes, waiting expectantly for them to say something.

"What the _hell_?" Was the only thing Kendall managed to say before Logan fainted, James broke down, Michael slammed his fist into the wall with frustration at hearing the diagnosis for the second time, and Kendall threw himself at the doctor with uncontained anger.

**Well...? Was that okay? I had such a hard time writing that, so apologies if it sucked big time :)**

**Thanks so much to all the reviewers of the last chapter... You guys are awesome!  
**BelieverInLove  
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**Hopefully people will review this chapter, and let me know what they thought :) Lol, the next chapter will be up next weekend, so any suggestions, let me know!**

**Catch ya next time,**

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	6. Chapter 6

Kendall's fist connected with the doctor's face, his punch filled with anger and fuelled by worry. The man fell back with surprise, crashing into the table that was behind him, bringing Kendall down with him. The teenager only got a few more hits in before he was being dragged away from Carlos' doctor, Michael using all his strength to get the teen away from Dr. Byrne.

"_Lemme go_, Michael! I'm gonna kill you, you heartless _dick_!" Kendall struggled and strained to get out of his best friend's brother's grip, but Michael was too strong, and even years of wrestling with Carlos hadn't improved his skill to the level Carlos and his brother were at.

After a few minutes, the boy stopped suddenly, as if all the air had been let out of him, and sagged into Michael's grip. Tears filled his once angry eyes, rage replaced by grief and anxiety. "Carlos..." The doctor was using the table to haul himself upright again, a black eye already starting to form, and blood dripping from his nose, as he stared in surprise at Kendall. That was certainly the most dramatic reaction he had seen in a long time.

Logan was on the floor, moaning slightly as his eyelids fluttered open, still disoriented from his faint. James had backed up until his back was pressed against the wall, and he sunk into a sitting position, knees pulled up to his chest. Tears were rolling down his face, and he looked numb. Kendall was leaning again Michael, blood on his hands, but a shocked expression on his face.

"Oh crap. _Crap_. I'm so sorry—I swear I didn't—Are you okay, doctor? Jeez, I'm sorry!" The man simply stared at Kendall in shock; the kid had one hellva punch, and enough pent-up emotions to kill someone.

"You okay, man?" Michael asked quietly, in a defeated voice. The doctor nodded, choosing to ignore what had just happened out of pure surprise. He bent over Logan on the floor, checking his pulse, and then pulling him gently to his feet and guiding him to a chair once the teenager opened his eyes.

"Yes, thank you. Look boys, I know you're all upset now, but you have to understand that this is my job, saving people, and I will do my very best for Carlos. I need to know that you're all with me on this one, together, and that there will be no more violent punches being thrown, okay?" The doctor stared hard at Kendall, who looked guiltily at the floor. "Good, now, I'm going to go and get an update on him, so can I leave you guys here, and trust that there will be no more trouble?"

_Maybe the doctor isn't so bad after all... _

"Yeah, doc... Uh, sorry about your face, again." Kendall pulled himself away from Michael, feeling strength flowing back into him. He had a goal now: Get Carlos better. Focus on that. The teenager took a few steps over to James, his friend's head still bowed low and trembling slightly, helping him up and making his way over to Logan. They needed to be together to get through this.

As Doctor Byrne walked briskly out, probably to clean his bloody nose and split lip up before he visited any patients, Michael looked at the three best friends again. They were sitting side by side, the chairs pushed closely together, and Logan was whispering something quietly to the other two.

"I'm going to go call my mom again... Be back soon" He then walked stiffly out of the room, dreading the call he had to make, knowing that this was much more serious than what had ever happened before. The last thing he heard before the door closed behind him was Logan starting to cry. Michael clenched his jaw, feeling way older than he was. _Just... keep a straight face for the guys_. The moment he was out of earshot and vision, he broke down in tears.

Forty minutes later showed almost the same scene. The boys were still in the conference room, which had filled up slightly with Carlos' family. His mother was there now, her eyes red and filled with worry, but her head held high. The twins had been picked up from whatever weekend classes they had been attending, and the two eleven year olds were silent, each staring at a book, but not even seeing the pages.

Sarah, Carlos' seventeen year old sister had rushed to the hospital also, and was currently curled up beside her older brother, tears falling from her eyes in a non-stop flow. Mr. Garcia was getting on a plane, having rushed out of the wedding reception with no other thoughts than his teenage son.

Mrs. Garcia had just returned from a long meeting with her son's doctor, a meeting which she had come back from with tearstained cheeks, and trembling hands. She had immediately sunk back into the chair, her head in her hands.

The doctor had come and gone, keeping Mrs. Garcia updated with news, which she had immediately told the others. According to the last update, the surgery for Carlos' punctured lung had gone well, and they were currently moving him to recovery, and casting his wrist and ankle, having also worked on his broken ankle in surgery. They were still monitoring his concussion very closely, and the slight bleeding in his abdomen was staring to worry Doctor Byrne, but they were just keeping a close eye on it for now.

The room had lapsed into silence after the last update, and the three friends were about to burst with the pressure and silence. They all met each other's eyes, each seeing the fear and suppressed shock that was threatening to overload their systems_. Just get through the next few hours_, James told himself as he listened to the twins start crying again, _stay strong for the guys_.

After another hour that was filled with overwhelming emotions and tears, the doctor returned once again. His right eye was beginning to darken, his split lip puffy and painful looking, and his face looked ever so swollen, but no one commented on his appearance.

He looked exhausted, and there were a few drops of dried blood on his scrubs and whitecoat, but his expression was triumphant. "He's stable, for now. Would you like to see him?" All the seven people in the room had jumped up, relieved that there was finally a sliver of hope, until the man had cast a sad look at Kendall, Logan, and James. "I'm sorry, boys, but its family only. For now, anyway."

Only James' warning hand on Kendall's wrist kept him in check, and he locked eyes with the doctor. The man flinched slightly at the raw emotion and barley contained anger in the teenager's eyes, and Kendall's expression mirrored those of the other two friends. He reconsidered for a moment, "Well, let me talk to a few people, and then I'll get back to you, okay? Just stay here until I come and get you."

With that, Carlos' family had filed out of the room, leaving the friends more broken than ever. Michael had looked back once to give a reassuring smile, but he couldn't really pull it off, so it came out as more of a half smile, but it was enough. At least one person cared about the three friends.

The waiting this time was almost worse in a way. They were alone again. Guilt was consuming Logan, fear taking over James, and anger starting to refuel in Kendall, but they kept each other calm by talking about useless things in murmurs. To anyone else, it would have looked like a slightly uninteresting conversation between three teenagers, but to them it was a distraction to the panic that was lying restlessly in each of them. They needed each other more than ever, and like true friends, they pulled through for one another.

After what felt like an eternity of the boys holding it together, for one more minute each time, Michael appeared in the doorway. "The doctor says you can see him now... But, be warned, it's pretty bad..." His face was stained with tears, and he looked even more drained than before.

The door to Carlos' room seemed to suck all the strength out of the friends as they stood before it, and they found that none of them had the courage to open it. the sign on the wall beside it read _ICU: Room 137_, and the words echoed around in James' head, making him sway on his feet. He couldn't do this.

A strong hand on his elbow kept him upright, and he looked over to see Kendall staring at him. He nodded once, before a shaky hand reached out to open the door. James cringed back, as Kendall and Logan started to walk into the room. He didn't want to see his friend lying on the bed, broken and fragile. A few deep breaths later and he was ready.

Or, at least he thought he was ready. That all changed when he stepped into the room, and saw the scene before him.

**Hello everyone! How was that? Grr, I had a really hard time writing this chapter, so I hope it's okay :)**

**Thanks to the following for reviewing the last chapter! You guys are the best...  
**I C a big world  
vikwhis13  
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**Please let me know what you thought, and give me your suggestions or stuff for the next chapter if you want... Thanks so much for reading :) Catch up with you hopefully next weekend!**

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	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys :) It's me again... Just wanted to say that I have no medical knowledge at all (Google is awesome-ness...), so sorry for any mistakes or stupid stuff in this chapter! Hope you enjoy :P**

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The room was completely silent, bar the noises of the different machines that were cluttered around the bed. Kendall let his eyes travel around the room, looking everywhere but at the still figure in the bed. The twins were huddled beside their sister, Sarah, big eyes staring with fear at the hospital bed. Michael was leaning against the window, hooded eyes fixed stoically on a point outside. His gaze met Kendall's for a long second, before the eighteen year old turned away, guilt evident in his eyes for a second, before he masked his emotions yet again.

Kendall frowned slightly, if Michael was so good at hiding his feelings, Carlos must be the same. A sick feeling settled in his stomach as he thought back to what the doctor had said "..._Carlos has presented with a number of other injuries that seem to be only a few days old, maybe a week at most..." _How long had this been going on for? What kind of friend was Kendall, that he hadn't even noticed his best friend was hurt?

The teenager was pulled out of his tortured inner questions as Carlos' family left the hospital room quietly, saying that they were going to give the boys some privacy. Mrs. Garcia was the last to leave, reaching down to stroke her son's forehead lovingly before straightening, telling them that she would just be in the cafeteria.

Alone in the silence, Kendall forced himself to look at his friend in the bed properly for the first time since the hockey rink. He didn't like what he saw.

There was a tube in his mouth, a big ugly one that couldn't _not_ be looked at, to help him breathe because of his lungs. His hospital gown was pulled down loosely so some of his muscled chest was visible, but where Carlos' hard abs should have been visible; the area was covered with thick bandages. They crisscrossed around his whole torso, making clear the amount of damage that had been done.

Another tube snaked out from under his chest bandages. Logan informed his friends with a trembling voice that it was help Carlos' lung re-expand. James looked sick to the stomach, as Kendall's eyes widened and his hands started to shake. Carlos was sedated, to give him time to heal after the surgery, and to make sure he didn't suddenly wake up and freak because of the tube down his throat.

His wrist was encased in a thick cast, not unusual for the active teenager. The disconcerting thing about it though, for his friends, was the fact that there was no bright colour on the cast, no splash of green or blue that Carlos always insisted upon. His leg was covered in a cast also, one leg clearly elevated under the blankets, and thicker than the other. Thick gauze was wrapped around his motionless head, making his face seem even paler, and making the teenager seem even more fragile.

"Dude, I'm sorry," Logan's voice interrupted the ventilator's constant sounds, the pale teenager's expression showing pure shame and self-hatred. James squeezed Logan's hand as he continued to apologise to Carlos, Logan's hand wrapped carefully around his unconscious best friend's, wary of the IV that snaked into his skin. Kendall took up his position on the other side of the bed, tears glittering in his eyes.

Kendall then said a few words, choking out apologies for failing his friend, before he was unable to say anything more. It just hurt too much. James stood behind Logan, unable to feel anything. He was the reason this had happened. He and Carlos always joked around, always were messing with each other, more than Logan or Kendall. Hell, he had even pushed Carlos into a wall yesterday during a particularly rough conversation. It was all in good humour, of course, but who knew how much he could have hurt Carlos? _You're a monster, James_, a voice in his head whispered. He stayed quiet, hidden behind Logan, ashamed of himself. He didn't deserve a friend like Carlos.

They only had a few precious minutes with their broken and bruised best friend before the doors were opened, and nurses flooded into the room, and started unhooking and re-hooking machines and wires and tubes. "Wh-what are you doing? Where are you taking him?" James was scared. More terrified than he had even been before. Seeing Carlos so lifeless and still had broken something inside him, and it felt like he would never be able to feel anything but numb.

"Don't worry, sweetie," A kind nurse replied as she smiled reassuringly at the three teenagers, secretly thinking that they all looked like they were about to break down, "We just need to get some more scans done to make sure everything is okay."

The friends had to watch once again as a motionless Carlos was wheeled away from them, panic threatening to overwhelm them. They didn't move for a few minutes, stunned by the reality of the whole situation. Logan was blinking away black spots that were invading his vision when James cracked, Kendall fighting to keep his unexplainable anger in check. The brunette suddenly bolted out the door, sprinting with no real idea where he was going, adrenaline taking over his senses. James tore down the hospital corridor, people having to duck out of the scared young man.

Kendall and Logan ran out after him, only glimpsing the back of their friend as he sprinted around the corner, taking after him immediately. Hospital staff stopped dead in their tracks and stared as the three boys came into sight, a reckless brunette leading the way with the other two straining to keep up with him. James finally reached where Carlos was being wheeled into the MRI room, and he yelled hoarsely for them to wait.

The nurse from before ushered the gurney to a halt, just as James reached them, tears finally falling from his tortured eyes. His voice was cracked and strained as he stared down on his injured friend. "Carlos, I'm so sorry! Oh God, man, I'm sorry! This is all my fault, I—" That was when the tears overcame the boy, and he sank down to his knees, eyes squeezed tightly closed.

Kendall threw himself down beside James, following closely by Logan, and James let all the pent up emotion out, sobbing in a heap on the hospital floor beside the gurney that held their best friend. The nurse that had spoke to them before looking on with a hand pressed to her mouth, pity in her eyes. _Those poor boys_, she thought, _they've been through so much_. She knelt down beside them, ignoring the other people, and put a gentle hand on James's shoulder.

The boy flinched away from her touch, choking out the same pain-filled sentence, "_It's all my fault..."_

They stayed on the ground for a few more minutes, before James pulled himself together. _Get up_, he told himself; as he wiped away tears that just wouldn't stop falling. The nurses started moving Carlos away again, once the friends were standing, all three sets of eyes fixated on the injured sixteen year old.

The same thought was going through all of their heads: _All my fault_.

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**Phew, I'm glad that's finally finished... I had such a hard time writing it :/ Literally staring at the computer screen for a good few hours with no idea what I was going to type!**

**Thanks to the awesome people who reviewed chapter 6:  
**Nobody Else Just Me  
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I C a big world  
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**Thanks for all the alerts/favourites too! **

**This chapter was mostly just angst for the boys (I'm just so mean! :P), so there will be more action in the next chapter... Carlos might be waking up! Review, and let me know what you thought, and any suggestions or things like that :) I'm on holidays now, so I'll defiantly update sometime this week if I get a good response! **

**Thanks for reading,**

**ArmedWithMyComputer xx **


	8. Chapter 8

"Surgery? Are you kidding?" Kendall's voice echoed around the waiting room, the same one they had been trapped in before being taken to the conference room, angry eyes fixed on the doctor.

The man gulped, his face still throbbing from when the teenager had lost control, and nodded again. "Listen, boys, this is our best option at the moment, and we all want the same result: To get Carlos well again. This surgery will just help us to stop the bleeding in his abdomen, and then we should be able to start weaning him off the ventilator, and after that see if we can wake him up."

James had gone back into his numb mode, expressionless eyes fixed firmly on the ground. As Kendall ruthlessly interrogated Dr. Byrne about anything and everything to do with Carlos (most questions that the doctor couldn't answer due to the fact that Kendall wasn't family, which just made him madder), Logan was curled up on the chair beside James, mentally beating himself up about the whole situation.

Why had he even let Carlos go to the game? Logan should have forced Carlos to go the hospital the minute after he fell down the stairs... He knew something wasn't right before that anyway. Now Carlos was hurt, really badly, and Logan knew that he was mostly to blame.

The doctor eventually had to go, needing to go and get Carlos prepped for the looming emergency surgery, and the three friends were left in silence once again. They watched the world pass them by as they sat together, no sounds emerging from the small waiting room. Michael had passed by a while ago, to drop in some sodas and muffins from the cafeteria, before leaving to go and wait with the rest of his family in the surgical waiting room.

Logan, Kendall, and James weren't permitted to go to that waiting room, not that they particularly wanted to, but they were not budging on the subject of leaving the hospital; at least not until they knew that Carlos was 100% okay, and awake.

Several frantic phone calls had been made to their parents, explaining the situation, and making it clear that the best friends were not leaving anytime soon. An abundance of text messages had been received as well, from just about everyone on their hockey team, as well as other friends of Carlos that had heard the news.

James fell asleep at one point, Logan making a _shh..._ motion to Kendall to keep him from waking James, but after only five minutes of sleep, James jerked awake again, his breathing fast and panicked. His only answer to the gently raised eyebrows that had been sent his way was a shaky frown, and the words, "Don't let me fall asleep again."

That had been two hours ago, and they still had gotten no news on anything. Kendall was pacing around in circles, Logan tapping his foot in a panicked fear, James staying completely still. They just needed to see Carlos, needed to make sure that he was still alive.

The sound of running footsteps put a stop to Kendall's restless pacing, the arrival of Michael Garcia in the doorway making Logan jump up in worry. "Where is he? Is he okay? How did it go? Was there any complications? What's wrong now?" The words burst out of Logan's mouth so fast that it turned all his questions into slurred mumbles, ones that only Kendall and James could barely understand. Carlos was the only one who was able to perfectly translate Logan's panicked speech at times like these.

"Hey, calm down, Logan... Everything is okay. Well, as okay as it can be right now," Michael looked exhausted, dark hair sticking up everywhere and brown eyes framed by big bags. "He made it out of surgery okay, and he's just starting to wake up now. My family are up there with him now, but I thought you guys deserved an update, since you've waited all this time."

"Can we see him?"

"I honestly don't know, James. He's in ICU," Michael's voice faltered a bit, and he looked as broken as any of the guys had ever seen him before, "So I don't know if you guys can get in the room, but you can probably look through the window thing in the corridor... He looks even worse now though. It's still pretty bad."

The four boys were running though the corridors once again, unintentionally pushing aside a few nurses who were making their daily rounds. The elevators were taking too long, stuck up on the fifth and sixth floor, so the empty stairways were soon filled with the sounds of pounding footsteps and ragged breathing as the three friends, and Carlos' brother, sprinted to the ICU unit.

The skidded around the last corner, room 137 getting ever closer, but promptly stopped when they caught a glimpse through the clear glass. Their friend looked almost worse than when they had last seen him, their view slightly obscured by the Garcia family that was crowded around the bed, but Carlos still visible.

The tube from his mouth was gone, all three boys immensely grateful for that, but it was replaced by a thick oxygen mask, that covered most of Carlos' face. His eyes were flickering open and closed, slight moans of pain escaping from his mouth, as he shifted slightly in the bed. Michael slipped inside the room, after squeezing Logan's shoulder once again, and they watched as he took his place beside his two sisters and enclosed them in a big hug. Mr. Garcia, who had just arrived and was looking breathless in his crumpled suit, gave the three teenagers a small smile, letting them know that they could stay there and watch Carlos, before turning around once again.

"Oh, Carlos, buddy..." Kendall whispered, tortured eyes on Carlos as he pressed closer to James. It hurt so much to see one of his best friends in that much pain, and not being able to do anything made the feeling worse. Logan shook slightly as he too took in the scene; dark eyes watched the doctor as he gently assessed Carlos' condition, a syringe being slipped into his IV port to administer more pain meds.

Finally, after almost too long, Carlos' eyes opened and stayed open. His pupils were slightly unfocused, and he wasn't very coherent, but he was still awake, alive. Kendall triumphantly punched the air, Logan and James hi-fiving each other. A nurse told them to quieten down, so they killed the volume, but the three friends were looking around with shining eyes, grins plastered on their faces.

Carlos was okay, at least for now. Anything else, they could deal with.

But, there was still a long way to go.

O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

**Hopefully that chapter was okay :) Still no medical knowledge, so I'm relying on what the Internet came up with! **

**Thanks to all my awesome reviewers for the last chapter: **Carloslove**, **Dark Princess Fics**, **MyHeroRaven**, **Nobody Else Just Me**, **vikwhis13**, **cookielover101**,** tank602**, and **I C a big world**... You guys really inspire me and make me update faster!**

**Next chapter should be up maybe this weekend... Fingers crossed! Please review and let me know what you thought :)**

**Thanks for reading,**

**ArmedWithMyComputer x **


	9. Chapter 9

By the time the friends got into see Carlos, he had fallen asleep again, exhausted. They crept into the brightly lit room, Carlos' family exiting behind them as they stared at their best friend.

The oxygen mask was still firmly on his tanned face, Carlos looking even paler than Logan had thought possible for the teenager. Logan's hand hovered over Carlos', almost afraid to touch him, as if Carlos would break if he made contact. After a moment of indecision, Logan grasped his friend's hand gently, and held it in his. While Kendall moved to one of the numerous chairs on the other side of the bed, James remained beside the wall, staying almost as still as Carlos.

A look into James' face showed pure fear and anxiety. Kendall motioned him forward, trying to get James to come closer to the bed so he could be closer to Carlos and see that he was okay, but the boy flinched back from his friend's motion. Logan met Kendall's eyes, and exchanged a worried glance. James was a mess.

Just as Kendall was summoning up the will to say something, anything to break the heavy silence, there was a moan from the bed. All three friends jumped about a foot in the air, and three sets of wide eyes stared at Carlos. He was waking up again, whimpering slightly as consciousness and pain returned to his injured body, eyelids fluttering slightly.

"C-Carlos, dude? You with us, man...?" Kendall's voice asked quietly. Upon hearing his friends, Carlos moaned again, his hand spasming for a second against Logan's.

"Take it easy, Carlos. You're okay now," The soothing tone of Logan's words seemed to calm Carlos a little, and his eyes carefully opened.

"Mmmgh... mahnnnh..." His mouth was moving under the oxygen mask, trying to form sentences but not having the coherency to get the words out. Brown eyes blinked up at Kendall and Logan as Carlos tried to communicate with them. Carlos went to lift one arm off the bed; he always had loved hand gestures, but broke off with a cry of pain, staring in confusion at the bland cast that covered his hand.

"Hey, Carlitos, take it easy... You had an accident – again – and you're in the hospital, but we're here. It's okay."

A pain-stricken Carlos listened to Kendall's comforting words, and followed Logan's strict instructions, breathing in and out slowly in an attempt to control the pain and stay conscious. "J-J'ms. Wh'r's J'ms...?" He finally panted out, breathless from the pain and the stress he was putting on his injured lungs, broken ribs feeling as if they were on fire everytime he sucked in a breath.

Logan was the first to decode the slurred sentence, and reached backwards to pull James forward, "He can't see you, James, come closer." The teenager in question shuffled forward, unsure of where to look, not wanting to set his eyes on his injured friend for fear that he'd break down.

"W-was... blocking a... tackle... huge guy... You 'kay, J'ms?" The urgency of Carlos' tone made Logan frown in concern, Carlos was very distressed about something to do with James, and a glance at his vital signs that were displayed on one of the big monitors showed Logan that this much panic wasn't good for Carlos. He had barely made it this far alive, and now he was asking James if he was okay.

James felt like the world's biggest douche. How much of an amazing friend was Carlos, the one in the hospital bed in the _freaking ICU_ of the freaking hospital, that he was asking James if he was alright because of a tackle Carlos had took for him. "Wha—Oh yeah, no, I'm fine, man. I am perfectly okay, thanks to you," _Oh God, this is all my fault... If he hadn't have gotten checked for me, none of this would have happened_, "Um, are you o-okay, Carlos?" _Of course he's not okay, you idiot. I put him in the damn hospital._

Carlos beamed up at his best friend, despite the situation, and wheezed out, "M'fine, J'mes... H'rts." His face clearly spoke what Carlos was feeling: As long as you're good, I'm good.

Kendall gulped in another breath of sweet oxygen. _Breathe... just calm down_. The whole situation was just shockingly bad. And that was just about the understatement of the century. He needed to focus on something, in order to not completely freak out and panic Carlos. His mother had called just before they had gone into see Carlos, and told him that she would be there as soon as she could. Mrs. Knight was one of Mrs. Garcia's closest friends, and would be able to help the family from the side-lines. Helping people was one of the best things Kendall's mom did.

Logan was in the middle of summarizing what had happened to Carlos, giving him the not-scary version that his friends had all lived though, when Carlos' doctor came into the room.

"Carlos! I see that you're awake... How are you feeling?" The man bustled around, taking Carlos' temperature and checking that the oxygen mask and various IVs were functioning, as the teenager stared at his blackened eye and split lip with amazement. Carlos had only been half conscious and very confused when he had first woken up, so this was technically the first time he had seen the guy.

"_Dude_," Carlos said with a deep breath, "What happened... to your face?" Though his face was strained with the effort of trying to say complete sentences without pausing to breathe, Carlos' eyes were filled with respect and surprise. The bluntness and pure Carlos-ness of his question had James rolling his eyes, feeling the pressure that wound around his heart ease just a bit. Everything was going to be okay.

They all laughed at the teenager's shocked silence as he awaited the doctor's response, Carlos looking just like a five year old again with the amazed expression on his bruised face, "Oh, this? Well, why don't you ask your friend Kendall over there? Be warned though, he has a mean right hook."

"No freaking... way, man!" Kendall nodded sheepishly in embarrassment as Carlos turned his wide eyes on him. He held his hands up in surrender, watching as Logan described the situation in detail that only Logan could remember, at least the part he remembered before he had passed out.

Chuckling, the doctor exited the room, smiling at the teenage boys and their banter as he headed to check on other patients.

But, just as James launched into a vivid description of the game before Logan and Carlos arrived, everything right down to the colour t-shirt that the opposition's coach had been wearing, his friend started gasping for air.

They all froze as Carlos, looking surprised but panicked himself, began to choke, unable to breathe in air. His slightly bloody fingers scrabbled at Kendall, his injured body bucking off the bed uncontrollably as he panicked and felt terror wrap around his heart. Carlos was just able to see Logan screaming for help, and James slamming his hand into all the different call buttons beside his bed, before he couldn't keep his eyes open anymore. The darkness won, and took Carlos far away from his broken body in the too-big hospital bed, with his friends gathered around him.

_No. _

o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o

**Well, there's chapter 9! Wow, I can't believe I actually made it to the 9****th**** chapter :0 Fingers crossed that was okay... That cliff-hanger at the end was totally not planned; it just ended up on the screen, leaving me like**_**, "What? How the—"**_

**Anyway, huge shout-outs and thank-you's to all the awesome reviewers from the last chapter! Because I'm in a hurry to post this, I can't list all you awesome people like I normally do at the end of every chapter, but know that I really appreciated all the feedback. Oh yeah, thanks to **tank602** for giving me the suggestion of having Mrs. Knight make an appearance! She'll defiantly be in the next chapter :) **

**If I get a good response, I'll try and get the next chapter posted by maybe Wednesday, so keep an eye out :) Don't forget to drop a review on the way out if you liked this chapter... It only takes a few seconds, and all your reviews really motivate me to get my ass on the computer and type up the coming chapters! Let me know what you think about the story so far :P**

**Thanks for reading,**

**ArmedWithMyComputer x **


	10. Chapter 10

Nurses and doctors were flooding into the room as Carlos stopped jerking wildly; his hands that had been scrabbling at James' shirt fell back on the bed motionless, all three conscious boys yelling at the top of their lungs. Orderlies ran in as well, and tried to usher the friends out of the way and out the door, everything moving at the speed of light to the teenagers.

Logan was dead weight in one of the man's arms, clinging onto the guy in an attempt to stay upright. His mouth was open in a scream that had long since lost its volume, but still retained all the horror at the scene in front of him.

The brunette teen that was James Diamond had gone completely stiff, joints locked into place, strong hands gripped the bedrail in fear. The orderly who was attempting to get him out of the room was forced to physically drag the teenager out, James' face devoid of any emotion. All his worse fears had been confirmed in the last hour, and he was now numb.

Kendall was yelling again, his throat forcing out the only word that mattered over and over again. "_Carlos_!" Then he was fighting the hands that were pulling him back, doing anything to get closer to his friend. He had to see him, alive. Kendall was still throwing punches as he was man-handled out of the room, his exhausted body running purely on adrenaline as he fought like a wild animal to get out of the strong grip that was holding him.

Random people were staring in confusion and shock at the scene that erupted out of ICU Room 137, medical personnel running in, teenagers being dragged out (one of the fighting and screaming at the top of his lungs), and the shouts of professionals that were coming from the room.

Logan and James had allowed themselves to be led away to another room, but Kendall was determined not to leave Carlos again. His fingers grasped the edge of the door, and he held on tightly, vowing not to let go until he knew everything was going to be okay. Because everything just had to be okay. "Carlos!"

The shouts of the doctor as they tried desperately to save Carlos chilled Kendall to the bone, his worse fear becoming a reality, and he listened as one of the doctors yelled, "Clear!" As the teenager watched with his head craned around the doorway, his best friend's body jacknifed off the bed, like a puppet with broken strings. The monotone sound continued. "Charge again... Clear!"

Another horrifying pause as Carlos arched his back and his head flopped around crazily as the doctor pressed the paddles to his chest. Finally, after much too long, there was a faint beep. And another. Kendall started shaking violently with both relief and fear as a tube was inserted into Carlos' throat, and he was hooked up to more machines than there had been the first time. Kendall kept his eyes fixed on the heart monitor, and used its beeping noise to give him the strength to let go of the door.

A pale Kendall was half carried and half guided to the waiting room once again, his arm draped over the orderly's shoulder in an attempt to keep the shock-ridden teenager upright. His friends were waiting for him there, and he fell into their embraces, all three boys clinging on tightly to each other to try and keep it together.

Their moment only lasted a few seconds, until the door was practically slammed off its hinges, and a frightened look at the doorway showed a panicked Michael, "What happened? What the _fuck_ happened to make my parents have to rush into an emergency meeting with the doctor? I'm not allowed back into see my brother, and there's a fucking tube down his throat again! What happened?"

Kendall was only able to stare as Carlos' brother yelled at them, Michael's hair standing up in tufts and his normally calmed eyes ablaze with worry. He just didn't know what to say. Logan was the same, shaking in the chair as he relived the terrible scene in his head.

"He... Everything just started blaring. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't breathe, and he was holding my shirt, and I was pulled out of the room. He couldn't breathe, and I left him." James looked up at Michael with a detached look in his eyes that shone with tears. "I don't know why, but he couldn't breathe. He was gasping for air, and dying... He couldn't breathe." The teenager was repeating himself, the sentence etched into his brain as he stared at his hands in shock.

Michael didn't say anything, instead just sinking to his knees, eyes loosing the fierce anger and being replaced with shame instead. Tanned hands like Carlos' held his head, and he looked almost as broken as Carlos had. James was muttering the three words that threatened to break him again, his face expressionless and tears spilled down his cheeks.

Eventually, after half an hour of the four boys being frozen like that, the rest of Carlos' siblings found their brother, and spilled into the room. Logan found himself hugging one of the twins, while Kendall was pulled into an embrace by Sarah. The three friends found themselves in a strange situation, never having been this close to any of Carlos' siblings than they had been in the previous twenty four hours.

A typical visit to Carlos' house before had always been a whirlwind of people all going in different directions, with different personalities. The boys often found themselves content sitting on the couch in the living room, simple watching the large family as they interacted with each other, and went on with daily life in their own way. While it was always clear that the family loved Carlos, there had always been a hint of neglect directed towards the middle sibling.

Whether it was through never attending a hockey game, or forgetting to make lunch for the teenager, the family had shoved Carlos to the side in a way.

It was no secret to any of the friends that Carlos' siblings were extremely talented, there always seemed to be a prize giving ceremony to go to, or some new certificate stuck up on the fridge, and they knew that Carlos felt underachieved when compared to his family. Carlos made up for medals in humour, compensated for fancy certificates in the pure love of life that he always seemed to have, and had more people that cared about him outside his family that Logan could count, but it never seemed to be enough for his parents.

But now, sitting and waiting in agonizing suspense, the friends found themselves connecting to the Garcia children in a way that they never had before. It was clear that nothing else that concerned Carlos would ever be trivial again to his brothers and sisters. But it might be too late now.

There was silence as the minutes slowly ticked away, each second without news eating into them like acid. Mrs. Knight appeared almost out of nowhere at one point, and she hugged each one of them, listening to the horrific chain of events with tears in her eyes. After distributing much needed sugary drinks and chocolate bars to everyone, knowing that they needed their energy and that their sugar levels were probably low, she slipped out the door again, to find Mr. And Mrs. Garcia and get more information.

Before she left, she had pulled Kendall into her arms and gave him a big hug, whispering into his ear, "Oh, honey, everything will be okay. Whatever happens, don't beat yourself up. It's not your fault."

That had been an hour ago, all the tears dried up by then, and there was only a hysterical type of calmness left_. This could be the end..._

Then, the door opened, and all three parents came in slowly. Mrs. Garcia was crying, and Kendall's mom's eyes were red with tears. Logan squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to hear the words that he was sure were going to come out of Mr. Garcia's mouth. All seven children held their breath, and prayed. _No. Please, God, no. No. No. N—_

"Carlos... He's— He's "James continued his silent chant of _no no no no no_ as Mr. Garcia started speaking. Carlos's father choked up, and found himself unable to continue. Logan, Kendall, and James locked their hands together, desperately hoping that what they feared wasn't true. _No, no, no..._

"He's stable."

O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

**... How many people thought that I'd actually kill off Carlos this time? Lol, I'm not that mean :) Well, not yet!**

**Thanks to the following for reviewing the last chapter! You guys are all amazing: **vikwhis13, cookielover101, I C a big world, tank602, Sharon Stephanie Cullen Black, My Hero Raven, twins1729, Nobody Else Just Me, Carloslover (**twice!) Thanks so much, everyone :)**

**Well, next chapter should be up by Saturday, so check it out then :) Please review and let me know what you thought! Your feedback is so important to me, and it really helps me in writing the next chapters...**

**Thanks for reading,**

**ArmedWithMyComputer x **


	11. Chapter 11

"I'm sorry, but you just can't."

"No. No, you don't understand, doc. We need to see him. Please, just for a minute. We just—" Kendall was practically on his knees, begging and pleading with the stony faced doctor. James and Logan were behind him, unable to speak past the lump of tears in their throat.

"I said no. Carlos overexerted himself, and lost control of his breathing. Because of his hyperventilating, his heart started to pump faster, which put his body under too much stress. His heart stopped, and we lost him for a few minutes. No visitors that aren't family. Carlos is now sedated and intubated again, and only just stable. He needs to be kept quiet, and we can't risk another... incident like this."

"I want to talk to Doctor Byrne, Carlos' first doctor."

"Well, you can't. I'm on the case now, and I suggest that you boys go home and get some rest. Visiting hours won't start until tomorrow, and even then you probably won't be able to see him. Go home, boys."

With that, Carlos' new doctor, Doctor Wilson, marched purposely off in another direction. James kept a warning hand on Kendall's tense shoulder, to keep him from running after the man. Logan watched Kendall carefully as he tried to keep his anger in check, eyes blazing with fury and frustration. "Let it go, man. The last thing we need is the security guards hauling us out."

Softening slightly at James' words, Kendall turned his back to his friends and put his head in his hands, hands gripping his hair as he struggled to keep it together. "I need to talk to Michael."

Michael, as it turned out, was in even more of a dangerous mood than Kendall. The eighteen year old was pacing angrily in an empty corridor, looking surprised when his eyes spotted the three best friends, who were hovering warily a few feet away. "What?" He spat out, instantly regretting his words as Logan's face crumpled and James looked like he'd just punched him. "Uh, sorry, guys. I'm just—It's been a crap day. Can I help you?"

"Yeah. We need to see Carlos."

"Dude,_ I'm _not even allowed to see him. My parents are the only ones who are allowed in. Trust me; I've tried to sneak around the nurse... She's smart." Michael's eyes shone with tears that he was holding back. "He's my little brother, and I'm not even allowed to see him."

In an attempt to keep his emotions at bay, Michael let his anger out in a quick right hook, catching the wall softly with his knuckles. He hissed in pain, holding his grazed hand into his chest, but he looked calmer somehow. Just as Logan was about to say something to Michael, a shocked look on his pale face, Carlos's brother's phone started ringing.

He answered it, listening quietly to the speaker and then saying short but fast sentences, no expression on his face. "Listen, I gotta go, and get some medical records from the house, Carlos has a whole freaking _folder _of them, but I'll be back soon. Do you guys want me to drop you home or anything?" They all shook their heads no, and then watched as Michael jogged down the corridor.

Then, completely out of the blue, James whirled around and punched the wall, putting all of his strength into the punch. Logan and Kendall watched in horror as their friend's hand smashed into the plaster, his face scrunching up in pain almost immediately afterwards. James cried out in pain softly, before repeating the action, over and over again. "James... Stop!" Logan snapped out of his trance, and went to grab his friend, unable to watch him hurt himself intentionally anymore. "Kendall, help!"

Kendall blinked once, and then rushed forward to help Logan. Between the two of them, they managed to pin James to the ground, and hold him there until he calmed down. Then there was silence, James cradling his hand to his chest in pain, while his friends watched him, horrified. Then Logan was grabbing his hand gently, and examining it carefully. James bit down on his lip in pain as his friend manipulated the injured hand.

"I think it might be broken... But I can't tell for sure. What the hell was that, James?" Logan let go of James' hand, and the brunette teen recoiled, pulling his hand into his body once again.

"I don't know, okay? I just— Shit, my hand's _killing _me..."

"Good thing we're in a hospital, right? C'mon let's go down to the ER." With a warning look at Logan to tell him not to push the issue, Kendall helped James stand, and started the long journey to the elevator. Logan rolled his eyes before catching up to them, and letting James lean on him on the other side. They finally made it down to the ER, where James was whisked into a cubicle, the curtains closing behind him.

Kendall just as quickly opened the curtains a slit, grabbing Logan from where he was talking to a friendly nurse, and slipped inside. James was sitting up on the bed and wincing in agony as the doctor examined his already swelling hand. Logan gave his friend a reassuring squeeze of the shoulder, while Kendall took out his mobile and waited for Mrs. Knight to pick up.

"Oh, hey, mom... Yeah, we're in the ER... Long story... Mom, I— Can you just come down? Thanks... See you in a minute." Sighing heavily, the boy ran a hand though his hair, rolling his eyes at James as he stuck out his tongue at him.

Mrs. Knight came sprinting into the ER less than two minutes later, her face creased with worry as she scanned the cubicles for the three teenagers. "Oh, James, honey... What happened?" Kendall's mother was all over James the second she spotted her son signalling her over. She smoothed back James' hair, felt his temperature with her hand on his forehead, and tutted at his injured hand that was stretched out on the bed. Mrs. Knight was in full mother-hen mode.

Kendall and Logan exchanged amused looks and stifled their laughter, while James stammered through all of Mrs. Knight's questions. "You fell?" Mrs. Knight was repeating James' words for the third time. "Well, what were you doing?"

"I, uh, was just walking. I tripped...?" Kendall nodded discretely at James as he sent him a desperate glance, telling his friend that they would go with that cover story if he wanted.

A nurse arrived a few minutes later, pushing a wheelchair that she helped James into, and then he was brought down to radiology. They confirmed down there that it was in fact a bad break of two of his knuckles, and that James would need a plaster cast for about a month. Slightly high on pain meds he had been given, James joked with his friends as his cast was put on.

Just as the finishing touches were being put on the cast, Michael came skidding into the cubicle. His eyes travelled to James to his cast, back to James, and then to Kendall and Logan. "What the— I leave for an hour and you guys manage to get hurt?" James grinned sheepishly as he waved his arm around, finding the new weight of his hand disconcerting.

"I'll explain later," Kendall muttered to Michael as James told Logan a joke loudly, before bursting into laughter. _James was always a lightweight on painkillers..._

"W-when we gonna get t'see Carlos, Logan? I miss h'm." James slurred, clinging onto Logan with his good hand, his eyes big and round. Logan awkwardly patted his friend on the back, avoiding James' eyes as he looked at Kendall.

"I just don't know. I miss him too, James."

O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

**Aww, poor James... ** **Hopefully that chapter was okay!** **I had to kinda tweak the summary as well cause I wasn't that happy with it, so I hope it's not too bad now...**

**Thanks to all the reviewers for chapter 10 :) You guys really made my day: **Anonymous skrtle, tank602, vikwhis13, My Hero Raven, Nobody Else Just Me, twins1729, dragonsdale-lover, I C a big world, cookielover101, **and **Sharon Stephanie Cullen Black **:D**

**School starts back this week for me (I've been on holidays for ages!) so I'll try and post the next chapter on Wednesday, but it may end up being Saturday if my teachers are really mean and give me loads of homework :( But fingers crossed there'll be an update in the next few days...**

**Anyway, let me know what you thought of this chapter, and I'll get to writing the next one :) Your reviews really help me though!**

**Thanks for reading,**

**ArmedWithMyComputer x**


	12. Chapter 12

James woke to the sound of Kendall snoring and Logan muttering in his sleep. Forgetting that this was not just a normal sleepover in one of their houses, James went to reach his arm out to throw something at Kendall, and then to try and zone out so he couldn't hear Logan. But then he remembered.

His arm throbbed with white-hot pain as he moved it too quickly, his back ached from the hospital chairs he was sprawled across, and his head pounded with the realization that what had happened was actually not just a dream. Sitting bolt upright as his thoughts raced, James' glance around showed a different scene than that which had been there when he had fallen asleep. Logan was curled up neatly on a chair, his head bowed as he slept fitfully, while Kendall was half on the small coffee table, half on the chair.

A look down at himself revealed a colourful cast on his right hand, and a blanket that looked suspiciously like the one off Mrs. Knight's couch. Then everything came back to him. James remembered being very whacked out on pain meds, enough that he'd snuggled up to Kendall while they had been mindless watching hospital tv. Then, he had refused to go home, getting agitated when his parents arrived to take him home to get some rest. The rest was just fuzzy.

Running his good hand through his messy hair, James sighed before getting up slowly. Waiting to see if his friends had noticed his movements, he breathed a sigh of relief when neither of them moved, and carefully tip-toed out of the room. The clock on the wall above the nurses' station told him that it was a little after seven in the morning, and he moaned silently as his stomach protested the fact that he hadn't eaten since almost... Well, James couldn't remember the last time he had eaten. Defiantly not since before the game. He shuddered as the memory of the second half flashed into his mind.

Making his way down to the cafeteria, James counted out the dozens of practically worthless pennies in his pocket and found that he had enough to buy a blueberry muffin. Guilt struck him dumb for a few seconds when he handed over the coins; he had been saving them to give to Carlos for his collection. The short teenager had a huge jar, hidden from his siblings, in his room where he collected worthless pennies.

He claimed that one day he would have enough to buy a "super cool, amazing-ly awesome, fan-_freaking_-tastic... something," in those exact words. Carlos had not yet decided what he wanted to spend the money on, but he was positive that it would happen one day. That was just one of the many examples of how fun-loving and unique his friend was.

Remembering how Carlos had looked last time he had seen him, when he'd _freaking died_ right there in the room, James suddenly felt his appetite fade. Shoving the muffin into his pocket to eat later, if the sick feeling in his stomach ever went away, he started to wander aimlessly around the practically empty corridors in silence.

James walked down the hospital corridors, enjoying the peacefulness of the quiet that was only occasionally broken by the odd hum of machines from a patient's room. Running his one good hand along the wall, he tried to think of what he could say to Carlos, once he got to see him. _What do you say to someone when you've quite literally seen them die right beside you?_

Absentmindedly rubbing his cast as it started to throb with pain; James realized that he was coming closer to the ICU wing of the hospital. He tried to stop himself, tried to turn around and make his way back to his friends, but he just had to see for himself. However, just as he was about to turn the corner and get a glimpse of Carlos' room, he felt a strong hand on his shoulder, and was yanked back.

A muffled cry escaped from the teenager's mouth as he whirled around to see Kendall and Logan staring at him. His heart was still racing with the adrenaline of being shocked as Logan began to speak in a hushed voice, "What are you doing here, man? We were told specifically _not _to come down here!"

"And why didn't you wait for us?" Kendall pouted like a little kid as James sheepishly shrugged, and rubbed the back of his neck in shame.

"I just... I need to see him, to know that he's okay. He— I have to see him."

The three boys looked at each other with both understanding and maturity in their eyes. Kendall nodded in agreement with Logan, as the shorter teen carefully said, "Well, if Carlos is sedated, then we shouldn't be able to wake him up if we're quiet enough... Which would mean that we sneaking into the room wouldn't do him any harm really..." Logan trailed off with a hopeful look on his face that made Kendall and James bump fists in silent triumph.

"Let's do this."

James' footsteps were light and silent as he crept around the corner, and cast a glance over to the nurses' station. Luckily, the nurse in charge was occupied with her computer, a puzzled look on her face as she pressed seemingly random keys in frustration. Keeping low, James silently ran over to Carlos' room, and slipped inside the door, all within the space of under thirty seconds. James then turned around and gave the other two friends the signal.

Logan and Kendall each sneaked into the room a few minutes apart, all three friends breathing a sigh of relief when the door was closed behind the last one in, Kendall. Then they all looked at the bed.

Carlos almost looked the same as he had the last time they had seen him, nothing had changed except for the paleness of his face, which seemed to have gotten worse. Logan hadn't thought that was possible. A huge, horribly invasive tube was still sticking out of their friend's mouth, and there were now more coloured wires coming out from his hospital gown, probably to monitor his heart rate even better. Kendall was trying to hide the fact that he was swaying slightly, while James was breathing quickly and getting more and more panicked.

Logan was the calm one in this particular situation, pushing Kendall into a chair, and gently taking James' face in his hands, forcing the hyperventilation teenager to look at him. "James? You gotta listen to me now, man, you have to calm down. If you don't, you're gonna get the nurse in here, and we're going to be kicked out. You hear me? Just take deep breaths."

The tall brunette forced himself to follow Logan's instructions, and his breathing became more regular, while the irrational panic in his eyes died down. Just a bit though.

Throughout all this, Carlos was breathing steadily, the sixteen year old looking very peaceful while he remained motionless on the bed. Checking that the nurse was still occupied with the computer, Kendall walked back over to Carlos and took his hand into his. Carlos' hands were scarred from years of small cuts and bruises, which came from wrestling with Michael, playing hockey roughly, or just messing around doing stupid stunts. His hand was limp in Kendall's hold, and it freaked his friend out, but he couldn't summon the strength to let go.

When Logan forced himself to look back up at Carlos' sleeping face, the tubes made all three friends nervous, he got a shock. Carlos' eyes were fluttering open for a few seconds, before slipping shut, and then opening again.

He nudged the other two, and then all three stared in surprise at Carlos. "Dude, I thought he was sedated... Doesn't that mean that he's _not_ supposed to wake up? What if_ it_ happens again?" James hissed worriedly at Logan, his eyes never moving from Carlos' face. By _it_, he meant what had happened when Carlos had coded and almost died, scaring the hell out of all three friends.

"I don't know!" Came the anxious reply, "Maybe they're not strong enough... He's not that alert, so maybe we can get him to go back to sleep." Taking a deep breath, Logan moved slightly so that he was closer to Carlos.

Worried eyes met clouded brown ones, the injured teenager not even alert enough to try and buck the ventilator, to breathe on his own. "Hey man," Logan started softly, as Carlos blinked slowly at him, pain clear in his slightly unfocused eyes, "Everything's okay, I promise. Just let the machine breathe for you... Um, just close your eyes again for me, okay? Just try and fall back asleep, and everything will be better when you wake up again, I swear."

James and Kendall watched, holding their breaths, as Carlos' eyelids slid closed again, and he quickly fell back under. The medication had him in its hold once again, and Carlos didn't even stir as Kendall carefully put his hand back down on the bed, and James patted his leg softly.

The friends slipped unnoticed out of the ICU room once again, each one slightly calmer now that they had seen Carlos. Everything was going to be okay now, once Carlos was taken off the heavy sedation, and life would soon get back to normal.

Looking up as she heard a noise, the nurse at the computer saw the end of Logan's hoodie disappearing around the corner, and she smiled. She then made her way into Carlos' room, and checked that everything was still working properly, and that the boy was still unconscious. Making a note to page his doctor once she returned to her desk as she saw that his sedation was wearing off, she quietly fixed the chairs that the friends had sat in, and smoothed the blankets down once again.

Back in another soul-sucking waiting room, the three teenagers sat in silence as they thought of Carlos, all alone in the room. It was not a horribly sad moment though, as they all knew that this was the first step to their friend getting better.

_It'll all be okay now..._

O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

**Okay, so that was more just a filler chapter, but hopefully it was still okay :)**

**Thanks to all the reviewers of the last chapter: **tank602, twins1729, cookielover101, Nobody Else Just Me, vikwhis13, Sharon Stephanie Cullen Black, dragonsdale-lover, **and **MyHeroRaven... **Your feedback was all really helpful, and I really appreciate it :D**

**Next chapter will most likely be up next Saturday, possible Wednesday if I have time, so let me know what you thought please... :)**

**Thanks for reading,**

**ArmedWithMyComputer xx**


	13. Chapter 13

Logan stared at the TV in frustration. They were all crammed on the Knight's sofa, watching some meaningless TV drama in silence… Well, James was asleep; again, the painkillers really knocked him out.

Their parents, Carlos' included, had practically bullied them into leaving the hospital for the first time in over twelve hours, had rounded them up and released them on the Knight household. Normally there would be drinks, popcorn, and a mountain of sweets involved whenever the friends were huddled in front of the TV on a sofa, but this time was much different.

Kendall hadn't said a word since they had shuffled through his door, but his body language screamed anxiety, mixed with anger and frustration. Logan knew how he felt. James was sprawled over Logan's lap, unintentionally, and even in sleep, the expression of pure guilt was still detectable.

Everyone knew that James blamed himself most. He had been the one who had dodged the vicious tackle that Carlos had skated in to cover, and that had led to him being checked hard. Blinking away tears at the memory of Carlos' still and motionless body on the cold ice, Logan coughed slightly, and tried to focus on the bright screen though blurry eyes. Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he looked over to see Kendall attempting to give him a comforting smile. It came out as more of a grimace, but Logan got the meaning.

"God, this whole situation is so fucked up…" Kendall sighed as he rolled his neck around. His eyes unconsciously flickered to their mobile, which were lying in a pile on the coffee table that was uncharacteristically clean. Before leaving the hospital, the boys had found Michael and made him swear that he would call them if there was even a slightest change in Carlos' condition.

So far, there had been no calls, but Logan couldn't decide if that was because everything was fine, or because something had gone horribly wrong and Michael just couldn't bring himself to ring them. He had been trying to focus on the first option, but so far, it wasn't working.

It was different for Logan, seeing Carlos in the hospital, than in was for his friends. As opposed to Kendall and James who had no idea what machine did what or why, Logan knew why every single piece of machinery was present. He was the one who had always been interested in the medical field, but where it had once captured his attention, he was now repulsed by his abundance of knowledge.

See the tube in Carlos' throat had only made him remember a video demonstration he had watched on how to insert the invasive tube. And he had seen ones on how to remove them, to extubate, and they looked painful. Not to mention the after effects of being intubated for long periods of time, which included an extremely painful throat, difficultly speaking, and a number of medical conditions that he was forcing out of his mind. Not to mention the danger of the patient –_Carlos_— developing ventilator-associated pneumonia that could slow down the recovery rate.

And that was only one piece of medical equipment involved. There were also chest tubes, IVs, blood pressure monitors, heart-rate monitors, catheters, feeding tubes, oxygen masks, nasal cannulas, crash carts, oxygen masks… The list was practically endless, and it scared Logan to death.

The shrill ring of Kendall's phone had the two awake teenagers jumping up, and each lunging for the mobile. Kendall's fingers brushed off the phone first, but he was reached forward too far, and so went crashing into the table. James had been thrown off the couch, yelling out as his head smacked off the floor, and he woke to the sight of Kendall crashing down on the small table; phone in hand, while Logan tumbled after him.

No time was wasted in flipping the mobile open, the words uttered in fear and apprehension, "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. He's fine. They took the tube out a couple of minutes ago, he's in a bit of pain, but he's awake… and asking where the heck you guys are." Michael's voice was shaky with relief, and the sound of it came loudly from the phone, which was on speaker mode. "You guys can probably come back to the hospital now; it's been like three hours, so I can pick you up…? Or I can give you money for a cab?"

There were no answers, only a relieved silence that was practically deafening.

"Uh, guys?"

"Y-yeah, we'll get a cab… Don't leave Carlos," James was the first to make a noise, choking out a barely audible sentence past the lump that had been stuck in his throat for the past few hours, "We'll see you in around twenty minutes. Tell him to stay awake for us, or I'll be pissed." Michael said goodbye as Kendall grabbed James' phone and called the local cab company, saying that it was an emergency, and that they needed a cab fast.

Ten minutes later showed the frazzled cab driver screeching to a halt outside the ER doors, the three teenagers in the back jumping out just before the car had stopped. "Thanks so much. Keep the change." Kendall threw a handful of bills he had found in his wallet at the confused man, and the three friends raced into the hospital.

Navigating through the maze of corridors was easy for the boys, not slowing once in their steady sprint, breaths panting out in nervous gasps. A pacing Michael was found outside Carlos' room, and he held up his hands to stop their questions as they sprinted up to him. "Shh, guys, you gotta be quiet up here. You can go in, but be warned that he's in a lot more pain than he was when I was last talking to you, so… Prepare yourself."

They crept into the room, almost afraid to look up when they first entered, and saw the Carlos' father was sitting with him. The man stood when he saw the friends, and gave his son one last heartbreaking look, before exiting the room.

Carlos was stretched out on the bed, his face pale and almost completely covered by a large oxygen mask. His tanned hand was wrapped weakly around a self push morphine button, and it was pressed slowly every few minutes. He opened his mouth to say something, but ended up coughing harshly, and sucking in more desperate breaths of the sweet air, his brown eyes staring up desperately at his friends.

"Oh, Carlos, don't try to talk, okay? It's okay, man; everything is going to be okay…" Kendall said calmly, as he gently took hold of Carlos' other hand. As the Latino started to take deeper breaths, and control his breathing, the friends relaxed slightly.

"Dude, you will not believe what James did to his hand… The idiot that he is," Logan started after a few minutes, attempting to create some sense of normality for Carlos through the presence of the friends' normal banter. He started describing the story, leaving out all the pain and angst filled parts, and focused mostly on their fond memories of James on the painkillers, totally high, and buzzed out of his mind.

The other two boys followed Logan's lead, and slipped into a comfortable chat. Michael heard the sounds of laughter coming from the hospital room, and he glanced inside to see his little brother smiling weakly as his friends tried to lighten his mood. The pained look was still present on his face, but it was less than it had been, and Carlos looked happier than he had ten minutes ago.

Though Carlos couldn't speak, he was included in the conversation, and even got to sign James' cast with a shaky hand. His name was written in the familiar childish scrawl that his friends had grown accustomed to over the years, and he even put a huge smiley face after it.

Michael closed the door quietly, and rested his head against the smooth wood. Although things might seem okay now, he knew that there was still a long way to go before things were okay again…

O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

**So there's the latest ****chapter :) I hope you guys thought it was okay!**

**Thanks to all the awesome people who reviewed the last chapter (!): **tank602, MyHeroRaven, twins1729, cookielover101, vikwhis13, Nobody Else Just Me, Sharon Stephanie Cullen Black, **and **dragonsdale-lover **:D**

**Please leave a review and let me know what you though, and I'll catch ya next week when I post the next chapter!**

**Thanks for reading,**

**ArmedWithMyComputer xx**


	14. Chapter 14

Twenty minutes into their visit, Logan could see that Carlos was getting weaker, bit trying hard not to notice. His three friends were still keeping up a light conversation, not too loud, and trying to boost Carlos' spirits.

But now Logan could see the pained crease above his friend's forehead becoming more prominent, and the morphine button was being pressed with more effort than Logan assumed it needed. Nodding to James while Kendall told Carlos all about how James had passed out in his lap, Logan tried to motion to James that they should go soon.

He blinked in understanding, giving a sad smile, and tapped Kendall's knee three times. Kendall looked up, immediately understanding the situation, before turning back to Carlos, and forcing a smile on his face, "We should probably get going now, man, and let you have some rest... Do you want any comics or stuff like that for when we are allowed in next?"

Carlos started panicking at the thought of his friends leaving him, shaking his head weakly, and reached up to pull the oxygen mask down, "Don't... Leave me... G- Guys..." He rasped, his breaths coming uneven and forced. Tears shone in his eyes, from the pain of speaking, but he held onto James' shirt with an iron fist.

Logan worriedly fixed the mask back on, and tried to calm Carlos down again. "Hey, don't worry, buddy. Well be back before you know it, and you look really tired, so just take a small nap... You have no trouble doing it normally in the middle in the day, mostly during class, so it should be no trouble now, huh?"

But still Carlos tried to move around, to do anything to stop his friends from leaving him. The movement sent waves of agony through his body, making the teenager cry out in pain, his brown eyes filled with tears that started to spill over. "Shit, go get someone!" Kendall yelled, when it became clear after a few seconds that Carlos' pain wasn't dying down like it normally had in the past half hour.

Carlos screamed in pain, as much as his hoarse, dry, throat would allow him, and his back arched off the bed, making him cry out even more. Nurses were running in now, the three friends being shoved to the side as needles and more tubes were inserted in Carlos. His screams had reached the point where they couldn't be expressed through sound, and the sight of their best friend's mouth twisted in a silent scream made all the three friends want to break down themselves.

A syringe full of clear liquid was inserted into the inside of his elbow, and Carlos thankfully seemed to relax, unfocused eyes staring after his friends as they were ushered out the door. Michael was waiting for them outside, being held back by two orderlies who had been keeping him from running into the room, his eyes once again tortured and confused. James swayed on his feet, seeing the similarities between Carlos and his brother's eyes, his arm once again throbbing with white-hot pain. _Not as bad as Carlos' pain_, he told himself as he received concerned looks from Logan and Kendall, _suck it up_.

"What the hell happened, guys?" Michael was pacing around furiously, though the friends knew that it was just his way of trying not to break down in front of them. Carlos' doctor walked out of his room—Kendall blinking in confusion, he hadn't even seen the guy go in—and Michael had him pressed up against the wall within a second. "What's wrong with him now," His voice was cold and dangerous, "_Fix him_. He's gotta be okay."

"Calm down boys," The man quickly said quickly, trying to discreetly get out of the eighteen year old's tight grip, but failing miserably. The Garcia boys hadn't done martial arts since they were all five for nothing. "He's okay, you hear, Carlos is fine," Michael loosed his grip, but only slightly, "He just needed a higher dosage of pain meds, since he hadn't been using his self-medicate morphine pump correctly…"

"What do you mean, hadn't been using it properly? All you have to do is press the button."

Turning to Logan, the doctor eased himself away from Michael, "Well, Logan, Carlos had only been giving himself very small amount of the drugs, barely enough to keep him from screaming, and then when he did attempt to move… That kid is one tough cookie."

"So, you're saying that Carlos was in a ridiculous amount of pain _this whole freaking time_, because you were too stupid to make sure he was using it properly?" Kendall looked murderous, his hands clenching into fists, trying desperately to prevent himself from beating the crap out of yet another doctor. The teenager was afraid that if he caused any more trouble, he would be banned from the ICU, and wouldn't be able to see Carlos again.

"I informed Carlos about how to operate the pump correctly, but it was his choice regarding how much medication he needed. My best guess would be that he wanted to act strong, and not seem weak in front of his friends and family."

"I'm gonna kill that idiot," Michael muttered, shoving the doctor to one side with a strong arm, before striding quickly into his brother's room. Carlos' friends followed right behind him, preparing themselves for what they might see. Carlos was hooked up to another IV, this one filled with morphine, and he looked groggy. "Hey, man, you feeling okay?" Carlos blinked slowly from behind his oxygen mask, his eyes practically glazed over with the amount of drugs he was receiving.

"Why didn't you tell us you were in that much pain, buddy?" Logan moved to the other side of the bed, smiling carefully at his friend, "You shouldn't have suffered in silence, man, that's the point of having the meds… They make the pain go away."

"They… make me… feel w-weird…" Carlos rasped slowly, his words slurred and quiet. "I—I... wanna g'home. When c'n… I go… home, Michael?"

His older brother swallowed hard, before plastering a convincing smile onto his face, "Soon, Carlitos, I promise. But first, we gotta make sure that you're okay, so that means you gotta tell us when you're hurting, okay man? I want you to promise me if there's any pain."

"'Kay… Michael… I promise." Huge, drugged eyes stared up at the friends, a small grin making its way onto Carlos' face, "C'n… C'n I g'to sleep now…? M'tired…"

"Sure, man, I promise we'll be here when you wake up." They all watched then as Carlos' eyes slid closed, and his breathing became more even. Michael sighed heavily, running a hand though already tousled hair, "Thanks guys, for everything. You've all been really good friends to my brother through this whole mess, and I just—Thanks."

The boys nodded their acknowledgement, not quite knowing what to say. Whenever they had gone to Carlos' house in the past, Michael had been stoic, intimidating, and seemingly unapproachable. They would watch drama unfold in the Garcia household, hold their breaths if Carlos and Michael got into another one of their playful fights that usually ended up with them rolling around the floor and being smashed into furniture, mutter a quick response if the eighteen year old asked them a question in his deep voice.

Things were different now, everything had changed, and their attitudes to Michael had changed quite a bit. He had been their rock, a calming presence that almost threatened to kick their asses if they did anything stupid – Like Kendall almost killing that idiot player at the hockey rink. So, not passing any comment, the three boys said nothing as Carlos' biggest and scariest brother seemed to fold into himself, wracked with silent sobs.

Logan placed a knowing hand on his shoulder, they had all done their share of crying, and there was silence as their friend's brother lost control for a few seconds. He was back then, the in-control, confidant Michael that they all knew, and no comments were passed.

Standing up, Michael looked around at everything, before his eyes finally landed on his little brother. "Everything is going to be okay now," He said quietly and with conviction, "Carlos is going to get better, and then I'm going to kick his ass for getting this injured in the first place and not saying anything, and then things will be normal again. I'm gonna make sure of it."

And, as the three boys looked at him, they realised that he was right. Everything would be okay. Because if big brothers and best friends couldn't fix things, no one could, and, besides, it was _Carlos_ they were talking about. He would always find a way to come back.

O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

**Hey guys :) Sorry this was a day late! I swear I'll try and have the next chapter up on time, and not a day later... Things are going to start moving faster now, but I just wanted that little bit of angst for Carlos, and let Michael get a bigger part in this chapter. **

**Any requests of things you wanna see happen are always awesome, and I'll try my best to put things that people want in the coming chapters :)**

**Thanks to all the reviewers from the last chapter! I really appreciate all the feedback: **MyHeroRaven, I C a big world, tank602, vikwhis13, cookielover101, twins1729, Sharon Stephanie Cullen Black, Nobody Else Just Me, dragonsdale-lover, T-bone14**… :D**

**I'll have the next chapter up by Saturday, so leave a review, and I'll see you then!**

**Thanks for reading,**

**ArmedWithMyComputer xx**


	15. Chapter 15

Four days later showed a much better situation for all four boys. Carlos had finally been just moved out of the ICU, and had been demoted from scary oxygen mask to simple nasal cannula. His voice was still scratchy and painful at times, but the teenager could talk a lot more than he had been able to for the first few visits.

His friends were forced to return to school three days after Carlos was declared out of danger, but went unwillingly and furiously. They had been met with hundreds of questions concerning Carlos from all of the Latino's many friends and teachers. Kendall, Logan and James hadn't realised just how many people really cared and were genuinely worried about Carlos, and Carlos' room at the hospital was filled to the brim with cards, balloons, soft animals, flowers, fruits... All which his friends ferried from school to the hospital each day.

The three friends had a silent agreement with their teachers - that they would show up to class each day relatively on time, James was never great with punctuality, as long as they didn't have to do their homework. Every other moment, apart from eating, sleeping, and school was spent with Carlos, just hanging out.

Back when they were eight, Carlos had confessed his hatred and fear of hospitals to his friends when he had gotten really bad pneumonia and had been forced to stay in hospital for a few days, and they had all made a pact to try to never leave one of the group alone in a hospital again. So far, it was mostly Carlos who had kept them up to date with the promise, he was constantly getting concussions, sprains and breaks, but the others had had their moments too.

When James was eleven, he had broken three ribs, and had had to stay for two nights in the hospital. Sticking to their promise, his friends had loyally slept in hospital chairs and played cards with friendly nurses until James had been let out. The same was true again when Kendall had gotten his appendix taken out, and Logan with his bad concussion. This was Carlos' longest stay yet though, but his friends were doing everything they could to make it bearable.

Since the teenager was now in a private room, Logan and his crazy computer skills had managed to hook up Kendall's playstation to the TV in his room, and James and Logan had donated their controllers so now the friends could play whenever they wanted. Well, as long as they didn't get too excited, and accidently knock over the IV stand and beside table like last time.

Carlos couldn't really play, with his right hand casted, and all the tubes and wires still attached, but he would always pick a side, and end up screaming at the top of his lungs for whoever he was rooting for to, "Kill that alien, you idiot! What the—No, left, _left_! You have to—_Watch out_!"

While Carlos may look a bit better on the outside, it was clear that he was still hurting on the inside. The self push morphine button had been ditched after it had turned out that Carlos wasn't using it properly, and though the pain meds did give him some relief, there would be times during the friends' visits where his far would scrunch up suddenly, and a long hissing breath would be let out. Everything would go silent then, until the moment passed, and Carlos gave a slightly sheepish and weary smile.

Their visits slotted in around Carlos' family, an unspoken schedule agreed on. But one day, the boys arrived to see a huge crowd of people heading into their friend's room. It seemed as if every cousin, aunt, and uncle Carlos had ever had had decided to visit him, all at the same time. His friends could only watch from the corridor as dozens of people flooded into the room, all armed with cards, flowers and hugs. Apparently, when the Garcia relatives decided to do something, they all did it together and in one go.

When Logan, Kendall, and James had finally managed to sneak into the room at the end of the day, after waiting for five hours in the hallway, they had found an exhausted Carlos. The sixteen year old had given his friends a half smile that looked slightly forced, before attempting to talk. His voice had been so worn out from hours of answering questions and making small talk, that nothing had come out. Carlos had let out a slight whimper as his cracked lips had struggled to make any sort of noise, before Kendall said with a laugh, "Just go to sleep, man, you're worn out. Its fine, we understand."

Ten minutes later showed Carlos fast asleep, and James polishing off one of the many boxes of chocolates that were stacked in a huge pile beside the flowers that practically made up a tropical jungle.

They were kicked out half an hour later by the night nurse, a mean looking woman that they had nicknamed 'The Hulk', who had a habit of double-checking the rooms to make sure the friends weren't just hiding behind the bed, like they normally did. Grumbling slightly, Kendall, James, and Logan shuffled out of the room, sending one more glance back at the passed out Carlos.

He always looked so much frailer in sleep, his long lashes still and his mouth opened slightly. The pain lines around his brown eyes had disappeared in unconsciousness, and the teenager looked peaceful, like he was in another world. Kendall breathed a sigh of relief, glad that it didn't look like his friend would have another nightmare that night. Since they had been kids, Carlos had always been plagued by nightmares, which left him screaming himself hoarse in the middle of the night, forcing himself awake in order to escape the terrors of his dreams.

Thankfully, they weren't a regular occurrence, but there was always a possibility that Carlos would be subject to the horrific nightmares each time he fell asleep. He always refused to talk about them, even when they were particularly shocking, and it broke his friends' hearts.

Logan had a clear memory of a fourteen year old Carlos sitting bolt upright in bed, his face pale and a tortured look in his eyes, tears streaming down his cheeks. He was shaking his head, panic making his movements jerked, but determined not to spill a single word of his terrifying dream. The nightmares would leave him acting broken and hollow for days afterwards, but then he would bounce back and never mention them. Until it would happened again, a month or two later.

All three teenagers stopped in the doorway, turning around and staring at their sleeping friend one last time. His soft snores filled the room, disturbing the soft beeping of various machines that were still needed, one arm extended across the bed while the other was flung unconsciously across his tanned face.

"What are you waiting for, boys?" The nurse roughly interrupted their reminiscing, his gruff voice shocking all three teenagers out of their thoughts, "Go on… Get out of here before I call security!"

They grinned, despite the circumstances, raising their hands above their heads in mock defeat. This routine happened every night, with the same nurse, and the boys had a feeling that they were beginning to grow on her. They ran off down the corridor as she rolled her eyes in frustration, heading for where they knew Mrs. Knight would be parked, ready to take them home.

Kendall whirled around before they reached the end of the corridor, to yell the same sentence he did each night, "Tell Carlos we'll see him tomorrow!"

O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

**Yay… Things are finally starting to get better :) I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter!**

**My thanks, as always, goes to the following people for reviewing the last chapter! : **vikwhis13, MyHeroRaven, tank602, twins1729, cookielover101, Sharon Stephanie Cullen Black, Nobody Else Just Me, Musicdude212, Believer In Love**… :D**

**I'll get the next chapter up by the weekend, so leave a review, and I'll catch you guys then! Your feedback really is amazingly helpful in writing the coming chapters, so please take a second to tell me what you think :)**

**Thanks for reading,**

**ArmedWithMyComputer xx**


	16. Chapter 16

Carlos was practically jumping off the bed as his three friends came in, making Logan panic at the sight of the tubes and wires that were attached to Carlos getting dislodged.

"Carlos! Be careful, man, you don't wanna rip out your chest tube... Again." His only response was a wide grin from Carlos as he pulled down the neck of his hospital gown to reveal the bandages that wound around his torso.

"Do you see? Have you noticed?"

"Uh... Noticed what, Carlos?"

"They took the tube out! This morning, while you guys were in school, they finally decided to remove it... I'm free!" To prove his point, Carlos started jumping again, well, jumping as much as someone could in a hospital bed with an IV and numerous wires still attached.

"That's great!" All three boys split into identical grins, high-fiving Carlos. They all knew how frustrated Carlos had been over the past few days with his limited range of movement, due to the fact that he was in danger of ripping the tube out of his chest if he stretched too far. He had already done it once, and never ever wanted to even look at another one ever again.

It had happened while they had been playing video games, like they did most days, when Carlos had decided to take a drink of water. The cup of ever present water sat on his bedside table, so he had simply reached out to grab it, but misjudged the distance, and fell to one side as his fingers scrabbled on the table. The chest tube had been roughly yanked out, causing Carlos to start screaming in pain and blood to well up under his bandages and soak into his hospital gown.

Panicked, James had started screaming for help, while Kendall ran out into the corridor, and Logan used shaky hands to try and hold Carlos down until help came. When nurses had finally come rushing into the room, they whisked Carlos off with them, assuring in rushed tones that he would be fine, leaving the three friends alone in an empty hospital room yet again.

As it turned out, all they needed to do was replace the tube, but a panicked Carlos had had to be sedated so they could carry out the procedure correctly. Two hours later, Carlos was wheeled onto his room once again, sleeping and drugged up on pain meds.

Needless to say, none of the four boys ever wanted anything to do with chest tubes again. Ever. But that had been three days ago, and Carlos had bounced back as usual, making his friends give a sigh of relief.

"Guess what? I still haven't told you guys the best part!" Carlos blurted out, unable to keep his secret in for any longer.

"They got another kind of chocolate pudding in the cafeteria?" James guessed, his eyes growing wider with anticipation, and his voice rising up an octave with excitement, "_Yes_!" Kendall smacked him over the back of the head, laughing as Carlos shook his head with a hint of regret, "What could be better than that, man?"

"I get to go home tomorrow!"

Silence followed Carlos' excited statement; his three friends exchanged concerned and worried looks. Carlos didn't notice them at first, instead blabbering on about how he had been told that morning, and then his brother Michael had brought him a new cd, and then his nurse had snagged him an extra cup of pudding, and then his sister had told him this creepy ghost story, and then this cool new tv show had been on, and then—

"Wait a second, Carlos… Are you sure it's okay for you to be leaving the hospital so, you know, soon?" Carlos' face fell as he turned to Kendall, his big brown eyes looking tearful.

"What do you mean?" He whispered quietly, "I just wanna go home, guys. I've been here for ages, and I just wanna sleep in my own bed…"

"We're just concerned for you, dude. I mean, you almost freaking di— Uh, it was close for awhile there."

Carlos looked away from Logan's worried eyes, hanging his head. "I know, guys, okay? I already had this whole talk this morning with my parent, that asshole doctor, and a _physiologist_ –before the ghost story— and… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you guys. I shouldn't have lied to everyone and told them that I was okay, when I was really hurting… I just—I didn't think it was that big of a deal. Just a couple of bruises and a headache, you know? Please don't be mad, guys? I'm really sorry if I made you mad…"

The teenager picked at his fingernails nervously, staring at the IV drip in the back of his hand like it was the secret to buried treasure. Tears made his tortured eyes shine, but Carlos fought not to let them spill over, refusing to look any of his friends in the eyes.

"Hey, man… Carlos, look at me." Kendall placed a wary hand on the injured boy's shoulder. "It's okay, everything's okay now. We forgive you, we're _not_ mad at you, we never were. We're just worried about you. Really worried. Right, James?"

James nodded profusely from where he had slumped in the chair after hearing that there was no extra pudding. "God, yeah, Carlos you really scared us."

A group hug then followed the silence, Logan, Kendall and James wrapping their arms awkwardly around Carlos, and Carlos hugging back with all the strength that he could muster up. When they finally pulled apart, James started gushing out all the details of a nasty fight that had occurred that day while they had been in school, between one of the boys in their class and another guy. Carlos listened attentively, all his attention focused on his friend and the gossip that they had been waiting all day to tell him.

"Man, I never thought I'd say this, but… I kinda miss school," Logan chuckled slightly at his friend's shocked expression as he said the very sentence that he never imagined saying. He then shook his head slightly, "Whoa, I must be getting some _really_ weird drugs."

The next day, the boys ditched school to help Carlos get ready to go home. James was in charge of piling all his presents into a duffel bag, whistling in surprise as he picked up a limited edition collection of all the best ninja films, "What? Carlos, how could you not tell me about this? You _know_ I love ninjas, man!" Carlos only looked sheepish, admitting that he was going to surprise James one day with a ninja movie marathon. James beamed in response, and immediately started planning dates for their 'Super Awesome Kick-Ass Ninja Marathon Day'.

Logan was sorting through the boxes of chocolate, setting aside the empty ones and sharing around the leftovers of the mostly empty ones. Kendall was trying, unsuccessfully, to unhook the playstation from the TV set. Wires were displayed all over the floor, and he yelped as tiny spark emitted from the mass of coloured wires.

Carlos was directing everyone from the bed, wincing only once as his IV was pulled out. "No, Kendall, just pull all the plugs out. Yeah, like that—Wait, no, _stop_… It looks like it's gonna blow up!" Kendal rolled his eyes as he tried to make sense of the electrical machinery, ignoring Carlos as he tried to wind him up, eventually asking Logan to just get his butt over there.

Michael suddenly burst into the room pushing a wheelchair, Carlos' other, younger brother screaming in delight. "Let's go, Carlitos! Mom's signing you out right now, and she sent me to get your ass out of bed…" Michael then helped Carlos slide into the wheelchair, everyone falling silent as Carlos let out a hiss of pain. He looked much more normal in his normal clothes, a baggy hoodie and sweatpants, a brightly coloured cast visible on his foot, and a wrist brace strapped securely on.

On their way to the front desk, more than a few nurses slipped cards in Carlos' hands, some even leaning down to give him a hug. James winked at his friend in the wheelchair after a particularly cute nurse walked away after hugging Carlos, smiling widely as they neared the exit of the hospital.

"Jeesh, I can't believe I'm _finally_ leaving this place," Carlos breathed in a huge gulp of air as they emerged into the bright sunshine, laughing in relief at the sight of his parent's car that was parked on the edge of the curb. He was helped into the car by his brother again, scowling slightly as Logan swiftly folded the borrowed wheelchair over and helped Mrs. Garcia store it in the trunk. "Mom, I told you that I didn't need the wheelchair… I can just use crutches, I mean; I've had loads of practice by now that I'm like a pro on those things."

"Well, buddy, the doctor said that you have to use the wheelchair for at least a week, 'cause you're still weak… and clearly in pain. Remember you said that you'd tell us if you were hurting? Because you've got your '_I'm in pain'_ look on right now." Michael smacked Carlos lightly on the back of the head at the sight of his guilty face, "Yeah, I've learned to read you pretty well now."

"We'll see you back at your house, man." Logan told Carlos as he shut the door, the three friends waving at their other best friend as his car drove off.

It would still be a long time until Carlos was back to normal, and there were almost defiantly more obstacles that they would have to overcome, but Kendall felt some of the pressure that had been pressing down on his chest since the moment he had seen Carlos motionless on the ice ease. Finally, they could put that horrible chapter in their lives behind them, and move onto Carlos' recovery.

O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

**Ugh, sorry if that chapter isn't up my usual standards… This week has been horrible for me, and I'm honestly just exhausted after it all :( But hopefully it wasn't too bad…**

**Thanks so much to all the reviewers of the last chapter :) You guys really are awesome: **vikwhis13, Musicdude212, tank602, Nobody Else Just Me, cookielover101, MyHeroRaven, Sharon Stephanie Cullen Black, twins1729**… :)**

**It kinda looks like this story is nearing its end now :0 Maybe only a few more chapters before I wrap it up… All your reviews have been so helpful, so just—Thanks so so so much. I hope to have the next chapter up by next Saturday, so maybe leave a review before you leave, and let me know what you thought about this chapter.**

**Thanks for reading,**

**ArmedWithMyComputer xx**


	17. Chapter 17

Carlos' house always seemed to be warm. The walls were painted bright colours, with vibrant pictures that made random splatters of colours stand out, and there was normally music blasting out from one of his sibling's rooms. There were almost always a few people in the house at the same time, but always on different wave-lengths, doing different things, and going different places.

Kendall, James, and Logan hung out at their friend's house every day after school, and it was clear that Carlos was going crazy being cooped up in his home. The TV was getting old, the comics and magazines were now boring, the ever present stack of fresh carrots and celery (courtesy of Carlos' mom) had turned from 'awesome' to disgusting, and aiming at random strangers on the street from the window with a water-gun had lost its fun overnight.

The crutches were, unknown to Carlos, stashed in the kitchen closet, and the hated wheelchair was constantly beside the couch or wherever Carlos was sitting. He had begged for hours to be allowed to ditch the "stupid-freaking-wheelchair!" but while his ribs and lung were still healing, he couldn't move around by himself well enough yet.

His friends were worried about him, because Carlos was alone in the house for hours at a time every day, with no one to make sure he wasn't doing anything stupid or reckless. Both of the Garcia parents had resumed working full-time, his siblings had been forced to return to school and college, and Kendall, Logan, and James were stuck in school for most of the day. This situation left Carlos alone each weekday until around half four, his only amusement being sending texts to his friends in school to try and make their phones go off in the middle of class.

Carlos had other visitors during the day, some hockey buddies coming around to entertain him with sweets and movies. But his three best friends would always be there, laughing in the backround while Carlos squirmed under the limelight, everyone's attention fixated on the injured teenager.

He had admitted to his friends that he was begging his parents to let him return to school, so things could just finally get back to normal at last. This constant stream of well-meaning sympathy and pity was starting to make him restless. Well, he had been restless in the hospital, but now he wanted to just get away from everything.

"As soon as I'm back at school, things will be back to normal," He assured Logan and James while Kendall was on a popcorn run to the kitchen. "And when I get back to playing hockey, I'll be _golden_."

His friends had nodded quietly, James busying himself by putting in another ninja movie and Logan saying, "Yeah, I guess, man… When are you coming back anyway?" His tone was both light but guarded, Carlos missing the concerned look that was exchanged between Logan and James.

"Sometime next week, I think. Whenever I'm allowed to use the crutches and am allowed by that stupid doctor… Or something, I wasn't really listening during that really long lecture/speech that I was given when I went back for a check-up, and to get my cast changed." At Kendall's raised eyebrow when he walked back in carrying two big bowls of popcorn, Carlos looked sheepish, "Yeah, I, uh, chipped a chunk off it when I tripped the other day, and then I spilt a drink all over it…"

His friends all rolled their eyes, seeing the new cast that encased Carlos' leg. It was covered in signatures and small drawings that friends and relatives had all redone, but there were still large patches of unsigned plaster. Logan, James and Kendall spent the next few minutes scribbling their names with black permanent marker, brows furrowed in concentration.

Winking at Carlos, Kendall cursed and pretended that his marker was broken. "James, hand me yours!" James tossed his marker over, but quickly regretted it as Kendall launched himself at his friend, armed with two uncapped markers. The ink got all his face and he yelled in surprise. Logan joined in as well, and Carlos watched from the couch as his friends rolled around on the floor wrestling and laughing.

Carlos' face was happy, his laughter the loudest of all, but the smile didn't quite reach his eyes. There was a hint of sadness and regret in those brown eyes, that he couldn't join in with his friends, but the teenager hid it well before his friends noticed, and started poking them with his hockey stick that was propped up behind the couch.

Then Carlos' older brother opened the door at that moment, took in the scene, and then just shook his head and ruffled his brother's hair. "I'll be in the kitchen, Carlitos! Mom's going to be late, so do you want leftovers or will we order in pizza for dinner?" James didn't miss the slight fall of Carlos' face as he heard that his mother wouldn't be home, but he smoothed out his expression and smiled.

"Dude, do you even need to ask? _Pizza_!"

The next twenty minutes were spent watching the movie, but then the rest of the Garcia siblings burst into the house, and chaos ensued. The twins were like Carlos in the sense that caffeine made them just a little bit hyper, and apparently (according to their high pitched voices) someone in school had dared both of the kids to chug a full cup each in under a minute, so they were practically bouncing off the walls. While a flustered Michael paid the pizza guy at the door, Logan and James were trying to calm down Carlos' younger sister and brother.

The three friends yelled their goodbyes, and slipped out of the loud house before they could get mowed over by either a hungry Carlos in the hated wheelchair or two over-caffeinated twins in their race for the pizza. The cool air was a relief, and for a moment the teenagers just stood on the porch, listening to the slightly muted sounds of the Garcia children that they had grown accustomed to over the years.

"What do you think will happen when Carlos goes back to school? What if he gets hurt again? I mean— How can we stop this from happening again?" James stared at the ground as he spoke, trailing patterns in the dirt with his sneaker.

"I dunno… But it's our job to make sure that this whole situation doesn't happen again. I—We can't go through this again."

"Yeah," Logan voiced his agreement with Kendall and James. "This will never happen again."

Three days later, Carlos had progressed to the crutches, more out of pure willpower rather than actual healing. Still, Carlos insisted that his pain levels were better, and that he was fine. He could now move slowly around, and was much happier and was starting to go back to becoming the old Carlos. Hopefully, this new Carlos included a less stoic and secretly closed off attitude.

Kendall, James and Logan were still over every day, and they were quietly celebrating Carlos' recovery in their own ways. James had bounced back to his normal, joking self, rather than the shell-shocked guy he had been in the hospital. Kendall smiled more and seemed to relax away a bit from the fierce over-protectiveness that he had found himself immersed in after the accident. Logan spent less time looking tense and concerned and hovering around Carlos, and more time just hanging out and messing around.

Carlos watched all of this happen, feeling content and happier as the days passed. He was slowly getting better, and with the healing came excitement and anticipation for the time when he would finally be allowed to go to school.

That time actually came quicker than any of the friends expected, and Carlos announced loudly one afternoon that he was able to go back to school. The injured teenager cringed at his friends' frozen faces, before quickly adding, "I swear I'll be okay, guys. Promise. It's still two days away, and I'll have the crutches, and you guys… I can't wait!"

Kendall wondered if he would be able to stop the sick feeling from building up in his stomach. Logan had to close his eyes momentarily to try and rid the scared look from his eyes. James gripped the side of the couch, making sure that no one could see him, in order to support his weak knees.

All three friends were terrified of what could happen to Carlos in school if they weren't there for him.

O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

**Hey guys… So, I really suck. I'm so sorry for not updating for ages! Hopefully this chapter is okay, I've been really stressed and busy with exams and stuff lately, so it's been hard to write :) **

**Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed the last chapter: **vikwhis13, tank602, dragons-dale lover, Living Life and Loving It, cookielover101, twins1729, Sharon Stephanie Cullen Black, MyHeroRaven, MusicDude212, Nobody Else Just Me, Dark Princess Fics**… :D**

**So, sorry to disappoint anyone, but I'm actually going away tomorrow… and I won't be back for, like, three weeks :0 I won't be able to update until I'm back, so I'm so sorry to anyone who's still reading this!**

**Thanks for reading, **

**ArmedWithMyComputer x**


	18. Chapter 18

Logan slid into the smooth leather interior of Mrs. Garcia's car quickly, his backpack in one hand and a half eaten piece of toast in the other. The teenager smiled nervously at the sight of an excited Carlos, who was sitting in the front seat waving at Logan.

Kendall grinned at Logan from his seat, and then the car sped off in the direction of James' house. Carlos' mother was talking loudly into her mobile phone earpiece, sparing only a flustered half smile which turned out to be more of a grimace, back at Logan as she drove the boys to school. A few minutes later James came sprinting out of his house, his mother tossing a forgotten bag at him, and his hair slightly messy as a result of the hurry that he was in. His friends could only roll their eyes in amusement.

The car seemed to start moving before James was fully in, a sure sign of how much of a hurry Mrs. Garcia was in. Kendall winced internally as Carlos hesitantly reached for the radio to turn on some music in order to draw the attention away from his arguing mother and her loud conversation but was swatted away by Mrs. Garcia. His tanned hand recoiled as if it had been burned, and the look on Carlos' face was so disheartened that Kendall wanted to reach over and give his friend a reassuring hug.

When they finally reached the school, Carlos yelled goodbye to his still arguing mother, before trying to scramble out of the car. James, who was closest to Carlos, had to jump out and awkwardly half catch the falling teenager, while Logan and Kendall grabbed the crutches. To her credit, Carlos' mother stopped in the middle of her rant and looked on with a hint of anxiety in her eyes.

For a few horrible seconds, Carlos swayed and wobbled as he tried to find his balance, leaning fully on both his friends and the crutches, but then he steadied. His three friends returned the grin Carlos sent their way as he finally straightened, but inside they were all shaken.

The car then sped away as Mrs. Garcia waved a now distracted hand, shouting for Carlos "… Not to overdo it, and remember to _be careful_!"

And then it was just the four friends.

As Carlos slowly hobbled into the school, many other teenagers came running up to him with big smiles on their faces, and words of kindness and relief. People who Carlos hadn't known before smiled as well, and teacher stopped to give him their congratulations on making a full recovery and returning to school.

Carlos' first class was science, which he shared with James and Logan, and a huge grin was plastered on his shining face as he limped into the science lab. Logan held the door open for him, as James carried his book bag. James smiled at his friend's face. He didn't think that he'd ever seen Carlos this excited for science before. It was a testament to how frustrated Carlos had felt at home with nothing to do.

The class dragged on as usual, and by the end all the students were bleary eyes and felt drained. All the students except for Carlos. The teenager had spent the entire class happily scribbling down notes with his good hand, in his normal illegible childish scrawl.

This pattern continued until lunch, Carlos attending his classes with one or more of his friends at his side. Kendall, Logan, and James had spent the entire morning with an eagle-sharp gaze on Carlos so far, making sure that he didn't injure himself further, and that everything was okay. Though Carlos hadn't commented on his friends' strangely overprotective behaviour, it was clear that he had noticed, but he instead restorted to small gestures to prove that he really was okay.

He had gently pushed Logan's hand away when he had tried to lift up a test tube for him, eased his backpack out of James' hands to show him that he was capable of taking out his own pencil case, and stood up slightly faster than usual before Kendall had the chance to pull his chair out for him.

After lunch was gym, which Carlos would obviously not be able to participate in, so he had been told to just watch from the bench as the rest of the class played basketball. Despite Kendall's best powers of persuasion, he and the two other friends were forced to play basketball rather than just sit on the bench with Carlos like they had been expecting to do.

The game that they started the class off with was interesting and fast paced, so Carlos' attention was held for the first three quarters of the class. But when they switched to practising boring drills, the teenager quickly lost interest. Deciding to make a fast trip to the bathroom (and maybe make a necessary stop at the vending machines – Carlos was nearly running out of Fruit Smackers), the Latino manoeuvred himself to his feet and asked the coach's permission.

Carlos then began to make his way to the doors leading to the rest of the school along the side of the court. The players, seeing Carlos limp along close to the court, all slowed down their drills and kept their distance, just to make sure that a ball didn't accidently go flying towards the injured teenager.

But one guy, a tall and muscled football player that Logan was ninety per cent sure was called Brad, was in the lead for the particular drill that he was racing against his friend, and just kept going. Just as Brad was about to run past Carlos, a cruel twist of fate caused him to not see the puddle of water that had been made during a water break, and he slipped.

Struggling to find his balance, the tall athlete ran forward in a random direction, arms wind-milling wildly, and ploughed straight into Carlos.

James felt as if the whole world slowed down into a snail like crawl in those few seconds when Brad's body connected with Carlos'. The brunette had a momentary flashback of that day at the ice rink, of seeing Carlos get brutally crashed into in order to save James from having to take the blow, of screaming helplessly in fear as Carlos remained unmoving on the ice.

Blinking suddenly and finding himself back in the present, James watched through horrified eyes as both Carlos and Brad hit the floor. The latter took most of the blow, as Brad had tried desperately to slow down before the impact, but Carlos still hit the floor hard, crutches clattering loudly to the ground. They were both still for a few fear-filled seconds.

But then James was yelling, Kendall was running, and Logan was panicking. As the coach stood frozen, Kendall was already in motion, strong legs carrying him quickly over to the two teenagers. Kendall could feel Logan running just behind him, so he let all his fear and anger out in one go.

A moaning Brad found himself suddenly being pulled to his feet, hands grabbing the front of his hoodie. Kendall slammed the dazed teen into the nearest wall, tears threatening to spill over in pure rage and worry, but he blinked them back and pushed Brad harder into the stone wall. "What the fuck?" Kendall opened his mouth to scream at Brad, but then realised that he was already yelling at the top of his voice. Trying to block out the sounds of other students panicking and of Logan assessing Carlos' unchanging condition, Kendall raised his voice and continued to scare the crap out of Brad though slamming him repeatedly into the wall.

James' voice could be heard above all the other panicked sounds, of crying and the shocked silence from some students that seemed to hurt the most.

"_Carlos_!"

O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O

**Hey guys! So, I've been away for the past few weeks, so sorry for the long wait! Also, I wrote this in the car on the way home from the airport when I'd been awake for about 22 hours and running low on caffeine, so I'm sorry if this chapter is pretty bad :)**

**Thanks so much for the reviews for the last chapter! : **vikwhis13,Nobody Else Just Me, Anonymous Skrtle, My Hero Raven, twins1729, tank602, I C a big world, UttermostX, Musicdud212… **You guys are all amazing ;) **

**I'm hoping to get the next chapter written up soon, so it'll be posted either this weekend or sometime during the week :) So sorry about that cliff-hanger there at the end… My bad! As always, I'd love to hear what you thought about this chapter, so it'd be awesome if you left a review before pressing that back button!**

**Thanks for reading,**

**ArmedWithMyComputer xxx**


	19. Chapter 19

Carlos snapped open his eyes suddenly, gasping at the sight of Logan hovering inches away from his face. The teenager started to scramble back out of instinct and shock, but stopped quickly as he felt his face muscles spasm with pain. Carlos forced himself to slow his breathing, and relax his expression, then meeting Logan's eyes.

"Just stay still, man, don't move… okay?" Logan's eyes were wide and his face was pale, but he still managed to place a firm but gentle hand on Carlos' chest to keep him down. Carlos saw his friend's eyes flicker quickly over to the coach, "Call that ambulance. Now."

Then Carlos began to pay attention. He realised with a start that he was sprawled out on his back on the shiny floor of the gym, and that almost all of his fellow students were huddled together at the other end of the hall. A loud shout drew his attention to Kendall slamming a guy twice his size into the wall repeatedly. Carlos blinked. Logan was still doing what his friends joking called 'mothering,' though their description was not far off, and he was currently flexing Carlos' bad wrist carefully to check for any more damage. Carlos also noticed James, shaking silently at the edge of the crowd of teenagers; his eyes slightly glazed over but focused on Carlos. Two girls that Carlos only half recognised were pressed up against him, tears in their eyes, as if to offer James some comfort.

At another time, James would have been completely distracted by the two beautiful girls that were practically glued to him, but not then. One side of Carlos' mouth quirked upwards for a second, the teenager not remembering a time when the James Diamond had passed up an opportunity to flirt with a girl that obviously liked him.

Then Carlos noticed his gym teacher pulling out his phone with trembling hands. "Wait! Whoa, whoa, whoa… I'm fine," The words _I'm fine_ were out of his mouth before he could hold himself back, and Carlos wished that he could take them back as he caught sight of his friends' faces. _Oh, crap_. "I just fell. I mean, I'm not any worse than I was before I came in… I don't need an ambulance. Maybe just a painkiller for my leg that still hurts loads cause, I dunno, it's broken. But please don't make this a big deal… 'cause I swear it's not." Carlos' earnest eyes stared up at the coach, begging silently.

The coach paused, looking frantically between the four friends. Kendall had stopped in his rage to stare at Carlos, while James had paled even more. Logan studied Carlos closely. "You sure?" The teenager on the ground nodded. "You positive?" Another eager nod.

"I swear, man. Cross my heart."

Logan, Kendall and James exchanged tense glances, before all looking at Carlos. There was complete silence in the gym, apart from the panting of Brad who was still pressed up against the wall.

"Look, I have to call an ambulance in this kind of situation." The coach said, before he started punching numbers into his cell phone with stubby fingers. Carlos' eyes widened, and he scrambled up to a sitting position.

"No! Please don't call, coach. I just fell. I'll go to the nurse or go straight home, _anything_, but I just don't want to go back to the hospital when I _know_ that I don't need to." Big brown eyes stared up into Logan's face and pleaded silently. Logan then nodded to the coach.

"Fine," The dark hair teenager rolled his eyes at his friend, "But you're going straight to the nurse, man, and I swear that I will kick your ass if you turn out to be more injured." James stumbled forward to stand beside Carlos, and then bent down to grab his crutches from where they had clattered on the floor.

The jock was dropped unceremoniously on the ground as Kendall's anger faded and he went to help Carlos to the school nurse. The four friends moved slowly out of the gym without any other words, leaving the coach with a phone in his hand and the other students still frozen in shock at the whole incident and the aftermath that had taken place.

The small group of friends entered the nurse's office a few minutes later, surprising the nurse as she suddenly found her office full within two seconds. Carlos manoeuvred himself onto the small bed that was located in the corner, a place that he had become very familiar with during his previous years at school.

Staying true to his words, Carlos let himself be poked and prodded for the good part of half an hour while his friends looked on with worry. He occasionally flinched or winced with he moved the wrong way, but other than that and a couple of new spectacular bruises, he was fine.

When they exited the nurse's office to go to math, all four teenagers were surprised to find Brad sitting outside in the corridor. The football player jumped up the minute he saw Carlos, and started gushing out apologies, "Oh man, Carlos, I am so sorry! I—Oh God, I'm so sorry… I swear that I didn't mean to, and then you were just lying there and—Damn, are you okay? Did I hurt you anymore? Oh man… I'm just so sorry!" All of this was said within a ridiculously short space of time, and the guilt ridden expression was completed by a bloody nose and a blackening eye – curtsy of Kendall, who looked sheepish as he met Brad's tortured eyes.

It then took Carlos ten full minutes of careful explaining to convince Brad that he really was okay, "You're fine, man, it was an accident. No harm, no foul, right?" When Brad had finally walked away, still spluttering apologies, Carlos caught Kendall's eye, "Kendall. Calm down. It wasn't his fault. Just let it go, okay?" The teenager had then crutched away from his friend, who was trying desperately to keep his anger contained.

The car journey home at the end of what seemed like a long day was silent, Carlos' mother not speaking out of frustration, and Carlos just plain annoyed. Logan, James and Kendall were tense in the back seats, the silence deafening. The sound of Carlos' phone ringing shocked all the occupants of the car, and he answered it sullenly.

"Michael? Yes, I'm fine… Totally fine, I swear… Honestly, man… Just let it go, I'm okay!" Carlos ended the phone call abruptly, sat in seething anger for a minute, and then burst out with, "That's it! We are having a family meeting tonight! And you guys are gonna be there too. I'm just so—Just be at my house for seven tonight."

Ignoring the questioning looks that he got, Carlos scowled and turned to look out the window, not looking up when each of his friends exited the car. When he returned home, Carlos shrugged off his mother's unusually concerned helping hand, and limped as fast as he could inside.

A few hours later, when the whole Garcia family was gathered around their large dinner table, the doorbell rang. Michael answered it, letting Carlos' three friends in with a slight smile. They walked into the dining room to be met with the confused and bemused faces of the rest of the Garcia children. Carlos' parents just looked bored, as if they had somewhere else to be.

All eyes were fixed on Carlos as he hobbled painfully to the head of the table on his crutches. The twins slid their Nintendos under the table to turn them off, Carlos' sister stopped texting her friend, and Michael pressed pause on his iPod. These actions were all done silently, as the siblings turned to look at their brother, but Mrs Garcia let out a sign before switching her attention from her pager to her son.

"Listen guys, we have to talk…"

O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

**Hey everyone :) Sorry about that cliffhanger at the end of the last chapter – quite a few people freaked out a bit! Don't worry, I was never gonna let Carlos get any more hurt, just wanted to wind you guys up a bit :) My bad!**

**Thanks so much for the reviews for the last chapter :) You guys are awesome! : **I C a big world, vikwhis13, My Hero Raven, twins1729, cookielover101, Nobody Else Just Me, tank602, Anonymous Skrtle, musicdude212**… :D**

**So, the next chapter will probably be the last one :( But thanks so much for all your feedback so far, it's really helped me so much in writing this story! Please leave a review, if you want, and I'll see you soon for the last chapter!**

**Thanks for reading,**

**ArmedWithMyComputer xxx**


	20. Chapter 20

Carlos stood at the head of the table, leaning heavily on the back of the chair that was pushed in, his hair slightly messed up. His friends took in the angst-ridden appearance of Carlos, a side to him that was rarely seen, and each cringed internally. Brown eyes stared into each of their eyes, hurt and anger clear in his expression for the first time since he had left the hospital.

"Carlos, honey, why don't you sit down before…?" Mrs. Garcia started to say, but trailed off as Carlos' expression grew even angrier and when her husband put a tentative hand on her arm.

"Look guys, I have a lot of things that I've been trying to say subtly, but no one has been listening, and I'm just fed up by now. Ever since I got home from the hospital, some of you have been completely over-protective and irrational. I mean, I can do things for myself! I can get my books out, and open doors, and do things normally!" This part of his speech was directed at the three friends, and his brother Michael.

"They wouldn't have let me out of the damn hospital and out of the wheelchair if I wasn't ready for it… Which I was, and nothing had changed, apart from me getting better. I know that I was stupid and reckless and that's how this whole situation blew out of control, but I won't ever do that again, and you guys need to trust that I understand the implications of my actions, and that I can be trusted when I say that I'm fine. I really am okay now…"

Then Carlos shifted slightly to get in a more comfortable standing position. He rubbed a hand though his hair, and coughed slightly. Logan, Kendall, and James exchanged guilty and shameful looks, before turning back to Carlos with apologies in their eyes.

Then Carlos began to speak again, "And another thing… I know that I'm not smart. I know that I'm not that talented. I know that I haven't really achieved anything worthwhile. But, I'm still a part of this family. I still matter to people, and I should still matter to this family. I don't… I just want to feel like I'm appreciated and that you guys still want me around. I know that I'm stupid and reckless, but I want to feel like I belong in this family, and that I fit in beside all the medals and awards and intelligence and likeableness and all that stuff. I'm sorry if I did anything to make you hate me." Carlos sniffed almost inaudibly, and a tear slipped down his cheek as he stared at the ground.

The three friends looked away, and tried not to notice as both of Carlos' parents gasped in horror and Mrs. Garcia put a hand over her mouth. They had finally realised the implications of praising all their other children other than Carlos. The twins both stood up quietly and went over to hug their brother, Carlos almost breaking down while wrapping his arms around his two younger siblings.

His other sister, Sarah, reached over from where she was sitting beside his, and grasped Carlos' hand when he was released from the hug. Michael nodded sincerely at his younger brother, his eyes shining with tears alongside with the rest of his family, and he said quietly, "You know that you're the glue that sticks our family together, right Carlos? We wouldn't have made it this far without you, man…"

Mrs Garcia was shaking with silent sobs, only now seeing the true extent of how neglected and isolated that Carlos felt from her. His father had a look of self hatred clearly all over his face; the seriousness of his son's hurt only dawning on him once he saw the tears run down his cheeks.

"Oh, Carlos… I—God, I'm so sorry, honey. We—I never meant to hurt you, sweetie, and… Oh, I'm so sorry!" His mother stood slowly, and opened her arms to hug Carlos, crying even harder when he awkwardly folded into her. Mr. Garcia, usually too distracted or tired to interact properly with Carlos, joined his wife and the hug.

There was silence in the house for a few minutes, as everyone watched Carlos interact with his parents properly for the first time in months. James caught Michael's eye, and returned the small smile that the eighteen year old sent his way. Logan squeezed the hand of Carlos' younger sister as she tried to wipe away tears with her other hand. Kendall just sat there, glad that Carlos had let all the pent up frustration out in one go.

When all the hugs and apologies from Carlos' family were done over an hour later, they all shuffled out of the room in order to give Carlos and his friends some time alone.

The teenager sat down heavily in the chair beside James, tossing his crutches across the room, and sighed slowly. Until then, Carlos had only let a few tears slip down, but when alone with only his friends, he let his head drop into his hands and started sobbing. All the other teenagers could do was put reassuring hands on his shoulder and be there for him until he cried the stress out.

"You're okay, man, you're good… We're good. Things are going to start to get better now," Kendall tried to comfort Carlos, while Logan squeezed his shoulder.

"We're sorry, Carlos, if we were suffocating you… It's just, you're our best friend and we don't want you to get hurt again. I'm sorry, Carlos. Can you forgive us?" Logan said as Carlos looked up at him.

Then Carlos lifted his head up, and smiled shakily through the tears that had dried on his face. "I know, guys. I understand that you don't want me to get hurt again, but I _need_ to have the independence to do things by myself sometimes, even if it hurts a bit, or if it takes me way longer to do them."

James nodded and smiled at Carlos, "Of course, man, but it's okay to let people help you sometimes too."

The expression on Carlos' face was so relieved and glad and grateful and overjoyed all at the same time, and it made his three friends break out into three identical smiles.

O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

Epilogue: Two months later.

The four friends stood beside the yellow bus, none feeling the coldness in the air due to the layers of clothing that they had on. Carlos stood up straight, without the aid of crutches or his friends, and gone were the casts and splints. His eyes were sparkling, and his face was full of mischief. Finally, the old Carlos was back.

There had been some major changes over the past few weeks, and Carlos' friends couldn't have been happier for him. After many long months of Carlos being ignored and pushed aside by his parents, they were finally starting to take more of an interest in his life and the things that he did. Mr. Garcia had introduced 'family night,' and though Carlos had described it as being incredibly corny, it had helped to bring the Garcia family closer together. His friends had also backed off slightly, and let Carlos have the space to do things himself, but still helping him quietly if he needed it. All in all, things had never been better.

"So, any idea what we should do today…?"

"I do! I have totally the _best _idea ever! It's so awesome…" Carlos answered Kendall's question within a second of it being asked, his eyes lighting up with excitement and anticipation. His friends all raised their eyebrows with questioning looks on their faces.

Carlos grinned. "We should soak the girl's field hockey team!"

O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.

**Did anyone see what I did there in the end? I don't know if it was actually Carlos who came up with that idea in the first episode, but I thought that I should end this on a light note :)**

**Thanks so much to all the people who reviewed chapter 19! :** vikwhis13, tank602, Anonymous Skrtle, MyHeroRaven, Nobody Else Just Me, Sharon Stephanie Cullen Black, dturtle14, zana… **:D**

**Aww, this story is officially over now :( But I've had a blast writing it, and all you guys who've been reading have really inspired me and helped me to write it! Thank you all so much for reading, whether you reviewed, put this story on your favourites and alerts, or just read it in silence :)**

**I'd love to hear what everyone thought of the ending, or of the story as a whole so please leave a review if you have the time! I'll defiantly be writing more BTR fanfictions in the future, so keep an eye out :D**

**Thanks so much for reading,**

**ArmedWithMyComputer xxx**


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